Soft robots often show a superior power-to-weight ratio using highly compliant, light-weight material, which leverages various bio-inspired body designs to generate desirable deformations for life-like motions. In this letter, given that most material used for soft robots is light-weight in general, we propose a volumetrically enhanced design strategy for soft robots, providing a novel design guideline to govern the form factor of soft robots. We present the design, modeling, and optimization of a volumetrically enhanced soft actuator (VESA) with linear and rotary motions, respectively, achieving superior force and torque output, linear and rotary displacement, and overall extension ratio per unit volume. We further explored VESA's proprioceptive sensing capability by validating the output force and torque through analytical modeling and experimental verification. Our results show that the volumetric metrics hold the potential to be used as a practical design guideline to optimize soft robots’ engineering performance

中文翻译：

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具有本体感知功能的体积增强型软执行器


软机器人通常使用高度柔顺的轻质材料来表现出卓越的功率重量比，该材料利用各种仿生身体设计来产生逼真运动所需的变形。在这封信中，鉴于软体机器人使用的大多数材料总体上重量轻，我们提出了软体机器人的体积增强设计策略，为控制软体机器人的外形尺寸提供了新颖的设计指南。我们提出了分别具有线性和旋转运动的体积增强软执行器（VESA）的设计、建模和优化，实现了卓越的力和扭矩输出、线性和旋转位移以及每单位体积的整体延伸比。我们通过分析建模和实验验证验证输出力和扭矩，进一步探索 VESA 的本体感知传感能力。我们的结果表明，体积指标有可能用作优化软机器人工程性能的实用设计指南