Detailed information

Materials

Materials to fabricate the segments were ordered at McMASTER-CARR. To fabricate the inflatable segments we used:

(rubber tube)Super-soft latex rubber semi-clear tubing with a 1/4” inner diameter and 5/16” outer diameter[product ID: 5234K98]
(polyethylene tube)High-flex polyethylene-lined semi-clear tubing with a 5/16” inner diamater and 7/16” outer diamater[product ID: 5155K28]
(luer lock plug) Lightweight quick-turn impact resistant tube couplings for 1/4” tube diameter[product ID: 51525K36]
(luer lock socket)Lightweight quick-turn impact resistant tube couplings for 1/4” tube diameter[product ID: 51525K29]
(glue)Brush-on instant-bonding adhesive, general purpose to fill gaps up to 0.01”[product ID: 7729A24]

To connect the actuators to the pressure source, and to close the segments, we furthermore furthermore used:

(luer lock plug cap)Lightweight quick-turn impact resistant tube couplings[product ID: 51525K38]
(luer lock socket cap)Lightweight quick-turn impact resistant tube couplings[product ID: 51525K37]
(PVC tubing)Masterkleer PVC clear tubing with a 5/16” inner diameter and 1/2” outer diameter[product ID: 5233K62]  

Tools that we used:

(razor blade)Stainless steel razor blade[product ID: 3962A1]

Note that these product ID codes were last updated June 2016.

Tool to fabricate braids

To fabricate the braided tubes, we made a tool using a 3D printer that guides a knife for cutting the slits. The tool consists of two parts, part 1 is placed inside the polyethylene tube, while part 2 is placed external and helps guide the cutting.

The tool consists of two parts that are 3D printed, and placed around the tube to guide the cutting.

3D printing was done on a Stratasys Objet30, based on six sets of stl files for braid lengths ranging between 40-50mm. The files can be downloaded through this link.

If you want to change the model, make different lengths, or use different radii for the tubes, you can also start from the Solid Works Part that can be downloaded from here.

Experimental setup

To measure the pressure-volume response of the segments and segmented actuators, we build an experimental setup containing the following components:

(syringe pump)Standard infuse/Withdraw PHD Ultra, Harvard Apparatus
(50-mL syringes)1000 series, Hamilton Company
(pressure sensor)MPX5100; Freescale Semiconductor 0-100kPa
(data acquisition system)NI USB-6009, National Instruments