High-stroke, High-Output-Force, Fabric-Lattice Artificial Muscles for Soft Robots.

Artificial muscles, providing safe and close interaction between humans and machines, are essential in soft robotics. However, their insufficient deformation, output force, or configurability usually limits their applications. Herein, we present a class of lightweight fabric-lattice artificial muscles (FAMs) that are pneumatically actuated with large contraction ratios (up to 87.5%) and considerable output forces (up to a load of 20 kg, force-to-weight ratio of over 250). Our developed FAMs consist of a group of active air chambers that are zigzag connected into a lattice through passive connecting layers. The geometry of these fabric components is programmable to convert the in-plane lattice of FAMs into out-of-plane configurations (e.g., arched and cylindrical) capable of linear/radial contraction. We further demonstrate that our FAMs can be configured for various soft robotic applications, including the powerful robotic elbow with large motion range and high load capability, the well-fitting assistive shoulder exosuit that can reduce muscle activity during abduction, and the adaptive soft gripper that can grasp irregular objects. These results show the unique features and broad potential of our FAMs for high-performance soft robots. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.