Fabrication and performance comparison of different soft pneumatic actuators for lunch box packaging

Automating the lunch box packaging is a challenging task due to the high deformability and large individual differences in shape and physical property of food materials. Soft robotic grippers showed potentials to handle such tasks. In this paper, we presented four pneumatic soft actuators made of different materials and different fabrication processes, and compared their performances in terms of pressurized bending angle. We found that the actuators fabricated by 3D printers showed better linearity and less individual differences. Robotic grippers were assembled using the proposed soft actuators and grasping tests were conducted on soft paper containers filled with food materials. Test results suggested that softer actuator required lower air pressure and generated less deformation on the soft container while lifting up targets with the same weight.