Force Analysis and Experiment of Variable Stiffness Soft Actuator Based on Particle Jamming

At present, the jamming mechanism has some problems such as particles rearrangement and elastoplastic deformation. Therefore, this paper proposes a variable stiffness soft actuator based on the combination of large and small particles. According to the Hertz contact model, we analyzed the interaction force between the membrane and jamming particles. Then We regard the filling particles as rigid body. Based on this assumption and PASCAL’s law application, we establish the mechanical model of the mechanism. The stiffness is analyzed by using the locking torque and we put derived result to simulated. Through analysis and experiment, the soft actuator made in this paper has been improved in the aspects of variable stiffness, repetitive positioning accuracy and stability.