Design and Potential Energy Analysis of Cable-Driven Soft Actuators Based on Linkage Bistable Mechanism

Soft actuators have been widely studied and utilized in the past years. Limited by the fabrication materials and actuation methods, the response time of soft actuators is usually unsatisfactory. To achieve high-speed response, cable-driven soft actuators based on linkage bistable mechanisms are proposed. The potential energy of the actuators is stored in the form of the deformation of the hyperelastic rings. Once the bistable system is triggered, the actuators perform rapid linkage bending. The mechanical properties of hyperelastic rings were tested, and the geometric relationship of the actuators was analyzed in the bending process. A potential energy model was established and the main parameters of the bistable system were calculated. A high-speed camera was used to capture the bending process of the actuator, and the response time was less than 0.063 s. Further, a soft gripper was presented based on the bistable actuators, and its applicability and gripping ability were experimentally studied.