Vacuum Powered Pneumatic Actuator for Wearable Robots by the Kirigami of Polymeric Films

This paper shows vacuum powered pneumatic actuators designed for wearable robots using the Kirigami of polymeric thin films for the first time. Distinctive advancements have been achieved, including (1) lightweight and the flexible thin sheet of polymeric materials made by Kirigami designs to allow either bending or twisting movements; (2) capable of shape-transforming to the surrounding such as the attachments to the surface of the cloth. The design concept, material/fabrication process, and driving mechanism described in this paper can be potentially extended to a variety of flexible devices and soft robots.