Design and Analysis of a Novel Flat Pneumatic Artificial Muscle

Existing pneumatic artificial muscles are often manufactured in complex ways, and they are challenging to meet up with the requirements of high contraction ratio, small size, and flexibility of parts at the same time. To address these problems, we developed a flat pneumatic artificial muscle (FPAM). The FPAM is woven by a flat balloon and a constrained layer. The two parts are manufactured in a highly efficient and simple laser cutting process. Experimental results show that the FPAM's maximum contraction ratio is 22.4%, and the maximum output force is 273 N. Dynamic experiments illustrated that they have consistent position tracking performance at 0.5 Hz and 0.25 Hz. What's more, the FPAM's weight and thickness are only 4 g and 0.6 mm, respectively, making it adaptable to various situations, especially in soft wearable devices.