Even without changing the material, the actuator’s behavior can be modified by adjusting its shape (morphology). For example, simply making a wall thicker will make it stiffer than a thin wall of the same material. | Polygerinos et al. (2013) |
As with material selection, predicting the behavior of a particular shape is difficult. FEM analysis and empirical testing can provide some insight, and the Modeling and Testing sections contain information on how researchers have modeled and tested these PneuNets actuators.
For example, the FEM analysis and empirical tests carried out by Polygerinos et al. (2013) yielded the following guidelines for morphology design:
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Empirical tests carried out by Mosadegh et al. (2013) found that (for a fixed overall actuator length):
- Up to a certain plateau, increasing chamber height lowered the required pressure.
- Increasing the number of chambers also decreased the required pressure.
- Increasing chamber wall thickness increased the required pressure.