Vinyl polysiloxane soft valves

Abstract

Soft robotics is an emerging field that uses compliant materials for various advantages over traditional rigid robots and with huge potential in a wide range of industries. Past research in soft robotics has focused mainly on soft actuators, which are designed with programmable features that produce specific desired movements. In the past few years, motivated by a desire to design mostly or entirely soft robots, researchers have investigated the development of various types of soft valves that can serve as control schemes for soft actuators while being composed of similarly compliant materials. This project seeks to explore vinyl polysiloxane (VPS) membranes with embedded soft pores that enable passive flow control. We first experimentally determine Young's modulus for three types of VPS through an Instron tensile test. We then characterize the behavior of VPS membranes under free inflation and compare experimental behavior to theoretical neo-Hookean models. We examine the behavior of VPS membranes with hole-punched pores, and identify membranes that demonstrate bending and/or stretching behavior under air flow. Finally, we propose several promising directions for future research, with the potential to develop homogeneous VPS soft robotic crawlers.