Axially and radially expandable modular helical soft actuator for robotic implantables

Soft robotics has advanced the field of biomedical engineering by creating safer technologies for interfacing with the human body. One of the challenges in this field is the realization of modular soft basic constituents and accessible assembly methods to increase the versatility of soft robots. We present a soft pneumatic actuator composed of two elastomeric strands that provide interdependent axial and radial expansion due to the modularity of the components and their helical arrangement. The actuator reaches 35% of elongation with respect to its initial height and both chambers achieve forces of 1N at about 19kPa. We describe the design, fabrication, modeling and benchtop testing of the soft actuator towards realizing 3D functional structures with potential medical applications. An example of application for soft medical robots is tissue regenerative for the long-gap esophageal atresia condition.