A Reconfigurable Fabric Based Pneumatic Actuator with Button Fastened Constraint Modules for Multi Mode Actuation

2026-10-07

AI Summary

This study addresses the limitations of soft pneumatic actuators, whose motion patterns are typically fixed and difficult to reconfigure post-fabrication, by proposing a reconfigurable soft actuator based on button-connected constraint modules. The design integrates textile-based pneumatic actuation with a modular constraint structure, enabling rapid switching among four motion modes—such as omnidirectional expansion and contraction—on a single body without disassembly or redesign. Furthermore, capacitive flexible tactile sensors are incorporated to provide surface perception capabilities. The system achieves a blocking force exceeding 10 N and supports in-situ reconfiguration for robotic grasping tasks. This work presents an efficient solution for multimodal adaptive manipulation in soft robotics.

Abstract

Soft pneumatic actuators are widely used in soft robotics. However, their actuation modes are typically fixed by internal chamber designs or reinforcements, making post fabrication reconfiguration difficult. This paper presents a reconfigurable fabric-based pneumatic actuator that enables rapid, tool free, and reusable switching among multiple actuation modes by attaching constraint fabric modules to a buttoned textile sleeve. By rearranging low-stretch constraint parts on a single actuator body, the proposed system realizes four actuation modes isotropic expansion, contraction, bending, and twisting without redesigning or disassembling the actuator.We further introduce an attachable capacitive fabric-based tactile sensor module that can be mounted at arbitrary locations on the actuator surface for task dependent contact sensing. Experiments demonstrated an elongation ratio of 1.2, a maximum bending angle of approximately 60 degrees, and a twisting angle of approximately 90 degrees at 24 kPa, while achieving blocking forces exceeding 10 N across all modes. The tactile sensor exhibited a monotonic, force-dependent increase in capacitance with low hysteresis (approximately 12%) and stable cyclic responses under preload. Finally, we constructed soft robotic arms composed of multiple actuators and demonstrated in situ motion reconfiguration for grasping by changing the attached constraint patterns. These results indicate that the proposed modular constraint and sensing framework improves the functional adaptability of fabric-based soft robots while preserving a simple, robust actuator structure.

Problem

• soft pneumatic actuator
• reconfigurability
• multi-mode actuation
• fabric-based soft robotics
• tactile sensing

Innovation

• Reconfigurable pneumatic actuator
• Fabric-based soft robotics
• Button fastened constraint modules
• Attachable tactile sensor
• Multi-mode actuation