3D Artificial Pneumatic Muscles

Robotic applications

 3D Artificial Pneumatic Muscles for Future 'Makers'

IIT - Italian Institute of Technology, August 30, 2022

Researchers at Italy's Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (the Italian Institute of Technology, IIT) and the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies) have developed artificial pneumatic muscles that can be produced using three-dimensional (3D) printers. The researchers demonstrated a pneumatic hand made of 18 GRACE (GeometRy-based Actuators able to Contract and Elongate) actuators shaped like a spindle with pleats, allowing them to expand, extend, and contract with little pressure. Said IIT's Corrado De Pascali, "Their size is limited purely by the manufacturing technology used. They can be built in different sizes, and we can vary their performance, both in terms of deformation and strength, and manufacture them using various materials and technology, even already built into the structures to be fabricated."