Peristaltic Pump-Based Palm-Sized Multi-Mode Pressure Supply System for Soft Robots

Soft robots have garnered considerable interest in recent years in terms of structure and functionality, while commercially viable pressure supply systems with various pressure supply modes for soft robots remain slow to progress. Hence, in this work, a palm-sized multi-mode pressure supply system based on a peristaltic pump is proposed for the first time, and precise pneumatic pressure control is achieved with a model reference adaptive control (MRAC) method based on the system dynamics. Further performance evaluation demonstrates that our system can deliver precise positive (mean error < 0.48 kPa for 050 kPa) and negative pressures (mean error < 0.85 kPa for -500 kPa) with minimal fluctuations, which outperforms the PID method. Application experiments indicate that our system can accommodate various pressure supply requirements, including controllable pressurization and depressurization, and has the potential for both pneumatic and hydraulic applications. In addition, by incorporating the MRAC method into the system, we have achieved excellent stability and high repeatability in controlling the position of a retractable soft pneumatic actuator, thus demonstrating the system's high accuracy and repeatability in pressure output. The phantom experiment of the injection soft robotic system further validates the system's diverse pressure supply capabilities for complex manipulations of soft robots.