Development of a silicon outer fence mold actuator with human compatibility

In this paper, we propose a new type of soft actuator (silicon outer fence of mold actuator) that a sponge rubber is covered with silicon rubber. The structure of the sponge rubber is divided into two types. One is flat type actuator whose sponge form is flat shape and the other is clipping type actuator whose one sponge layer is cut by square shape. In order to clear the difference of characteristics of two actuators, we clear basic characteristics of the actuators and investigate both position control and trajectory control with the actuators. From some experimental results, the control performance of the clipping type actuator is clarified. Furthermore, in order to indicate the effectiveness of the actuator, we apply the actuator to a supporter for welfare machines. As the results, it is clarified that the burden degree of the body in leaning motion is reduced by making use of the supporter through some experimental results.