Pressurization of gas within embedded channels and cavities is a popular method for actuating soft robots. Various previous works examined the effects of internal fluid mechanics on this actuation approach, as well as on leveraging viscous effects to extend the capabilities of soft robots. However, no existing works studied the combined effects of fluid viscosity and compressibility, relevant to miniaturized configurations, which is the aim of the current work. We derive a general model for compressible viscous flow in an elastic media representing a simplified miniaturized soft robot. We illustrate applying this model to periodic configurations, simplifying it via a long-wave approximation. Steady, and time-dependent solutions are obtained, allowing to model the flow and to provide insight into the actuation dynamics of miniaturized pneumatic soft robots.

中文翻译：

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气动软机器人的流体力学

嵌入式通道和空腔内的气体加压是驱动软机器人的常用方法。以前的各种工作研究了内部流体力学对这种驱动方法的影响，以及利用粘性效应来扩展软机器人的能力。然而，没有现有的工作研究与小型化配置相关的流体粘度和可压缩性的综合影响，这是当前工作的目标。我们推导出了代表简化的小型化软机器人的弹性介质中可压缩粘性流的一般模型。我们说明了将此模型应用于周期性配置，并通过长波近似对其进行简化。获得了稳定且与时间相关的解，