Design of a Multimaterial 3D-Printed Soft Actuator with Bi-directional Variable Stiffness

A multi-material 3D printed soft actuator is presented that uses symmetrical, parallel chambers to achieve bi-directional variable stiffness. Many recent soft robotic solutions involve multi-stage fabrication, provide variable stiffness in only one direction or lack a means of reliably controlling the actuator stiffness. The use of multi-material 3D printing means complex monolithic designs can be produced without the need for further fabrication steps. We demonstrate that this allows for a high degree of repeatability between actuators and the ability to introduce different control behaviours into a single body. By independently varying the pressure in two parallel chambers, two control modes are proposed: complementary and antagonistic. We show that the actuator is able to tune its force output. The differential control significantly increases force output with controllable stiffness enabled within a safe, low-pressure range (≤ 20 kPa). Experimental characterisations in angular range, repeatability between printed models, hysteresis, absolute maximum force, and beam stiffness are presented. The proposed design demonstrated a maximum bending angle of 102.6◦, maximum output force 2.17N, and maximum beam stiffness 0.96mN m.