A soft, bistable valve for autonomous control of soft actuators

Almost all pneumatic and hydraulic actuators useful for mesoscale functions rely on hard valves for control. This article describes a soft, elastomeric valve that contains a bistable membrane, which acts as a mechanical switch to control air flow. A structural instability-often called snap-through-enables rapid transition between two stable states of themembrane. The snap-upward pressure, Delta P-1 (kilopascals), of the membrane differs from the snap-downward pressure, Delta P-2 (kilopascals). The values Delta P-1 and Delta P-2 can be designed by changing the geometry and the material of themembrane. The valve does not require power to remain in either open or closed states (although switching does require energy), can be designed to be bistable, and can remain in either state without further applied pressure. When integrated in a feedback pneumatic circuit, the valve functions as a pneumatic oscillator (between the pressures Delta P-1 and Delta P-2), generating periodic motion using air from a single source of constant pressure. The valve, as a component of pneumatic circuits, enables (i) a gripper to grasp a ball autonomously and (ii) autonomous earthworm-like locomotion using an air source of constant pressure. These valves are fabricated using straightforward molding and offer a way of integrating simple control and logic functions directly into soft actuators and robots.