Passive and Active Particle Damping in Soft Robotic Actuators

Soft robotic actuators are highly elastic bodies that oscillate drastically once excited. This oscillation is undesirable in many applications. So far, very little studies on soft actuator damping have been reported. In this paper, we report a simple and effective vibration damping method based on passive and active particle damping. Experimental studies on the effectiveness of particle damping have been conducted. It is found that active particle damping is more effective than passive damping, nevertheless, active particle damping demands a more complicated design with extra energy source and control. Since particles are discrete matters, they can be seamless integrated into soft actuator design with only minor influence of soft actuator's compliance and softness.