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JRM Vol.37 No.1 pp. 13-22
doi: 10.20965/jrm.2025.p0013
(2025)

Paper:

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Realizing the Bending Motion of a McKibben Pneumatic Actuator via Elastic Adhesive Coating

Keiichiro Kan*, Takahiro Goto* ORCID Icon, Keisuke Naniwa** ORCID Icon, Daisuke Nakanishi*** ORCID Icon, Koichi Osuka* ORCID Icon, and Yasuhiro Sugimoto* ORCID Icon

*Osaka University
2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan

**Hokkaido University of Science
7-Jo, 15-4-1 Maeda, Teine, Sapporo, Hokkaido 006-8585, Japan

***National Institute of Technology, Matsue College
14-4 Nishi-ikuma, Matsue, Shimane 690-8518, Japan

Received:
May 15, 2024
Accepted:
November 22, 2024
Published:
February 20, 2025
Creative Commons License
Keywords:
McKibben pneumatic actuator, soft artificial muscle, elastic adhesive, bending movement, surface process
Abstract

Recently, soft actuators have gained considerable attention owing to their flexibility and high output-to-weight ratios. The McKibben pneumatic actuator (MPA), a type of soft artificial muscle, is an actuator that generates force by inflating a rubber tube with compressed air. Conventional MPAs, such as linear actuators, generate force along straight lines; hence, achieving complex movements, such as bending using a single muscle, can be challenging. In this study, we enabled bending movements in MPA by applying an elastic adhesive coating to MPA. Experimental results demonstrated that the coated MPA successfully performed bending movements. Furthermore, we confirmed that the curvature and fiber angles of the coated and uncoated surfaces changed with applied pressure, thereby indicating that the adhesive can be used to control the fiber angles and achieve the desired curvature.

Bending of McKibben pneumatic actuator

Bending of McKibben pneumatic actuator

Cite this article as:
K. Kan, T. Goto, K. Naniwa, D. Nakanishi, K. Osuka, and Y. Sugimoto, “Realizing the Bending Motion of a McKibben Pneumatic Actuator via Elastic Adhesive Coating,” J. Robot. Mechatron., Vol.37 No.1, pp. 13-22, 2025.
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Last updated on Mar. 04, 2025