Snapping Actuators with Asymmetric and Sequenced Motion

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Li, Xin, Jin, Ye, Jafarpour, Mohsen, Oliveira, Hugo de Souza, Milana, Edoardo
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Li, Xin
Jin, Ye
Jafarpour, Mohsen
Oliveira, Hugo de Souza
Milana, Edoardo
author_facet Li, Xin
Jin, Ye
Jafarpour, Mohsen
Oliveira, Hugo de Souza
Milana, Edoardo
contents Snapping instabilities in soft structures offer a powerful pathway to achieve rapid and energy-efficient actuation. In this study, an eccentric dome-shaped snapping actuator is developed to generate controllable asymmetric motion through geometry-induced instability. Finite element simulations and experiments reveal consistent asymmetric deformation and the corresponding pressure characteristics. By coupling four snapping actuators in a pneumatic network, a compact quadrupedal robot achieves coordinated wavelike locomotion using only a single pressure input. The robot exhibits frequency-dependent performance with a maximum speed of 72.78~mm/s at 7.5~Hz. These findings demonstrate the potential of asymmetric snapping mechanisms for physically controlled actuation and lay the groundwork for fully untethered and efficient soft robotic systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_18421
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Snapping Actuators with Asymmetric and Sequenced Motion
Li, Xin
Jin, Ye
Jafarpour, Mohsen
Oliveira, Hugo de Souza
Milana, Edoardo
Robotics
Soft Condensed Matter
Snapping instabilities in soft structures offer a powerful pathway to achieve rapid and energy-efficient actuation. In this study, an eccentric dome-shaped snapping actuator is developed to generate controllable asymmetric motion through geometry-induced instability. Finite element simulations and experiments reveal consistent asymmetric deformation and the corresponding pressure characteristics. By coupling four snapping actuators in a pneumatic network, a compact quadrupedal robot achieves coordinated wavelike locomotion using only a single pressure input. The robot exhibits frequency-dependent performance with a maximum speed of 72.78~mm/s at 7.5~Hz. These findings demonstrate the potential of asymmetric snapping mechanisms for physically controlled actuation and lay the groundwork for fully untethered and efficient soft robotic systems.
title Snapping Actuators with Asymmetric and Sequenced Motion
topic Robotics
Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.18421