Study on binary driven pneumatic unit for hyper-redundant robots

Binary driven hyper-redundant robot is sensor-less, robust and high DOF. Its major limitation to practical application is the actuator technology. A binary actuation with light weight, high payload capability and low power consumption is the base of the development of hyper-redundant robots as “snake”, “elephant trunk” and “arm”. This paper presents the design of a novel binary driven pneumatic unit which has bistable states and possesses self-holding character. The structure and operating principle of the pneumatic unit is proposed. The control valve, cylinder and platform are integrated and the micro-valve is specific and tiny. The self-holding character is verified by the analysis of flow behavior in the pneumatic unit. The pneumatic unit is small, lightweight but with large force, and fits the requirement of binary actuator for hyper-redundant robots.