Embedded Laser-Cut Constraints for Elastomeric Soft Actuators

Fiber Reinforced Elastomeric Enclosures (FREEs) are soft pneumatic actuators that have been used in haptic devices. These actuators have constraining fibers embedded within them in patterns that determine how they deform when inflated. The existing process of manually embedding these fibers can be both time-consuming and imprecise, so we instead laser cut the constraint from a thin film in a pattern corresponding to the desired actuator behavior. Here, we describe the manufacturing process for an actuator using laser-cut constraints and present the axial force and twisting torque that it produced.