Meta-Ori: monolithic meta-origami for nonlinear inflatable soft actuators

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Oliveira, Hugo de Souza, Li, Xin, Frey, Johannes, Milana, Edoardo
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Oliveira, Hugo de Souza
Li, Xin
Frey, Johannes
Milana, Edoardo
author_facet Oliveira, Hugo de Souza
Li, Xin
Frey, Johannes
Milana, Edoardo
contents The nonlinear mechanical response of soft materials and slender structures is purposefully harnessed to program functions by design in soft robotic actuators, such as sequencing, amplified response, fast energy release, etc. However, typical designs of nonlinear actuators - e.g. balloons, inverted membranes, springs - have limited design parameters space and complex fabrication processes, hindering the achievement of more elaborated functions. Mechanical metamaterials, on the other hand, have very large design parameter spaces, which allow fine-tuning of nonlinear behaviours. In this work, we present a novel approach to fabricate nonlinear inflatables based on metamaterials and origami (Meta-Ori) as monolithic parts that can be fully 3D printed via Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) using thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) commercial filaments. Our design consists of a metamaterial shell with cylindrical topology and nonlinear mechanical response combined with a Kresling origami inflatable acting as a pneumatic transmitter. We develop and release a design tool in the visual programming language Grasshopper to interactively design our Meta-Ori. We characterize the mechanical response of the metashell and the origami, and the nonlinear pressure-volume curve of the Meta-Ori inflatable and, lastly, we demonstrate the actuation sequencing of a bi-segment monolithic Meta-Ori soft actuator.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_23375
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Meta-Ori: monolithic meta-origami for nonlinear inflatable soft actuators
Oliveira, Hugo de Souza
Li, Xin
Frey, Johannes
Milana, Edoardo
Robotics
Soft Condensed Matter
The nonlinear mechanical response of soft materials and slender structures is purposefully harnessed to program functions by design in soft robotic actuators, such as sequencing, amplified response, fast energy release, etc. However, typical designs of nonlinear actuators - e.g. balloons, inverted membranes, springs - have limited design parameters space and complex fabrication processes, hindering the achievement of more elaborated functions. Mechanical metamaterials, on the other hand, have very large design parameter spaces, which allow fine-tuning of nonlinear behaviours. In this work, we present a novel approach to fabricate nonlinear inflatables based on metamaterials and origami (Meta-Ori) as monolithic parts that can be fully 3D printed via Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) using thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) commercial filaments. Our design consists of a metamaterial shell with cylindrical topology and nonlinear mechanical response combined with a Kresling origami inflatable acting as a pneumatic transmitter. We develop and release a design tool in the visual programming language Grasshopper to interactively design our Meta-Ori. We characterize the mechanical response of the metashell and the origami, and the nonlinear pressure-volume curve of the Meta-Ori inflatable and, lastly, we demonstrate the actuation sequencing of a bi-segment monolithic Meta-Ori soft actuator.
title Meta-Ori: monolithic meta-origami for nonlinear inflatable soft actuators
topic Robotics
Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.23375