Bending deformation characteristics of high-pressure soft actuator driven by water-hydraulics for underwater manipulator

In the field of marine research, the soft actuator has a better flexible grasping effect and adaptability to the target object compared with the traditional rigid manipulator. In this paper, a soft actuator based on water-hydraulic technology is proposed. The material parameters of the Yeoh 3rd-order model is determined based on uniaxial testing, and a mathematical model of the input pressure and deformation of the water-hydraulic soft actuator (WHSA) is established. The optimal structural parameters of the rectangular chamber WHSA are selected by orthogonal test. The bending deformation of WHSA under different pressure conditions is simulated with thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) as the material. The deformation of WHSA under different pressure is measured experimentally to verify the consistency of the simulation and theoretical results and the rationality of the design. Meanwhile, the pressure-holding experiment and grasping experiment of WHSA are conducted, which confirmed the important application value and application potential of WHSA in the underwater manipulator with better flexibility and adaptability in comparison with traditional rigid manipulators.