Soft actuators and robotics have been widely researched in recent years mainly due to their compliance to environments and safe interaction with humans. However, the need of tether and low energy efficiency of such actuators/robots has limited their practical applications. This article presents a novel tendon-driven soft actuator concept that has the property of self-pumping, called soft self-pumping actuator (SSPA) in this research. A SSPA is designed by assembling two soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs) face-to-face, whose air chambers are connected by two check valves. Actuation of the SSPA is achieved by tendons that allows precise and untethered control compared with traditional SPAs. The two chambers in the proposed actuators are precharged with air to a desired pressure to enlarge self-stiffness and to facilitate bending. When actuated, one chamber will be compressed and serve as a pump to inject its air into the other chamber, resulting in further bending of the actuator. The airflow involves energy transmission to help the intended actuation, thus improving energy efficiency. In experimental studies, differential chamber air pressure is found to reduce the force in initiating actuator bending. Experimental results have also shown that energy efficiency increase of up to 45% has been achieved compared with the same design but without air transmission. We believe that the proposed concept could lead to more novel designs of controllable and energy saving soft robots.

中文翻译：

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具有自抽动特性的新型腱驱动软致动器。

近年来，软致动器和机器人技术已经得到了广泛的研究，这主要是由于它们对环境的适应性以及与人的安全交互。然而，这种致动器/机器人的系绳需求和低能量效率限制了它们的实际应用。本文提出了一种具有自抽动特性的新型腱驱动软致动器概念，在本研究中称为软自抽动致动器（SSPA）。SSPA是通过面对面组装两个软气动执行器（SPA）来设计的，其气室通过两个止回阀连接。与传统SPA相比，通过肌腱可实现SSPA的致动，从而可以进行精确且不受限制的控制。所提出的致动器中的两个腔室被预充气到期望的压力，以增大自刚度并有助于弯曲。启动后 一个腔室将被压缩，并用作泵将其空气注入另一个腔室，从而导致致动器进一步弯曲。气流涉及能量传输以帮助预期的致动，从而提高了能量效率。在实验研究中，发现差动腔室气压降低了启动执行器弯曲时的力。实验结果还表明，与没有空气传输的相同设计相比，能源效率提高了45％。我们认为，提出的概念可能会导致可控和节能的软机器人的新颖设计。从而提高能源效率。在实验研究中，发现差动腔室气压降低了启动执行器弯曲时的力。实验结果还表明，与没有空气传输的相同设计相比，能源效率提高了45％。我们认为，提出的概念可能会导致可控和节能的软机器人的新颖设计。从而提高能源效率。在实验研究中，发现差动腔室气压降低了启动执行器弯曲时的力。实验结果还表明，与没有空气传输的相同设计相比，能源效率提高了45％。我们认为，提出的概念可能会导致可控和节能的软机器人的新颖设计。