Elastic materials producing compliant robots
A lot of research has been conducted on producing compliant robots by applying software algorithms such as force controls and compliance controls, while little research has been done in applying soft materials to robot mechanical designs. The author believes that the use of soft materials has great potential for producing compliant robots which are cheap and reliable. This paper reports on a new pneumatic rubber actuator and its applications to robot mechanisms. This actuator is made of silicone rubber and is called a flexible microactuator, an FMA. It has good compliance properties resulting from the elasticity of the materials and the compressibility of air.
robot rubber actuator microactuator