1 research outputs found
OpenPneu: Compact platform for pneumatic actuation with multi-channels
This paper presents a compact system, OpenPneu, to support the pneumatic
actuation for multi-chambers on soft robots. Micro-pumps are employed in the
system to generate airflow and therefore no extra input as compressed air is
needed. Our system conducts modular design to provide good scalability, which
has been demonstrated on a prototype with ten air channels. Each air channel of
OpenPneu is equipped with both the inflation and the deflation functions to
provide a full range pressure supply from positive to negative with a maximal
flow rate at 1.7 L/min. High precision closed-loop control of pressures has
been built into our system to achieve stable and efficient dynamic performance
in actuation. An open-source control interface and API in Python are provided.
We also demonstrate the functionality of OpenPneu on three soft robotic systems
with up to 10 chambers