Research on Influencing Factors of Load Capacity of Pneumatic Actuator

As the most important component of soft robot, the pneumatic actuator can drive robot movement. However, the effect of the actuator pneumatic network geometry on the actuator load capacity is insufficient. In this paper, the finite element analysis method is applied to calculate the load force and stability torque of the pneumatic actuator under a wide range of length and height dimensions of the pneumatic network. The effect of the network size on the structure rigidity, load capacity and deformation of the actuator is analyzed. Based on the calculation results, the effect of network structure size on the deformation and load capacity is analyzed, and the optimal geometric results with the maximum load capacity are obtained. This study provides theoretical guidance for the structural design and optimization of the pneumatic actuator.