Recent advances in soft robotics demonstrate the requirement of modular actuation to enable the rapid replacement of actuators for maintenance and functionality extension. There remain challenges to designing soft actuators capable of different motions with a consistent appearance for simplifying fabrication and modular connection. Origami structures reshaping along with their unique creases became a powerful tool to provide compact constraint layers for soft pneumatic actuators. Inspired by Waterbomb and Kresling origami, this article presents three types of vacuum-driven soft actuators with a cubic shape and different origami skins, featuring contraction, bending, and twisting-contraction combined motions, respectively. In addition, these modular actuators with diversified motion patterns can be directly fabricated by molding silicone shell and constraint layers together. Actuators with different geometrical parameters are characterized to optimize the structure and maximize output properties after establishing a theoretical model to predict the deformation. Owing to the shape consistency, our actuators can be further modularized to achieve modular actuation via mortise and tenon-based structures, promoting the possibility and efficiency of module connection for versatile tasks. Eventually, several types of modular soft robots are created to achieve fragile object manipulation and locomotion in various environments to show their potential applications.

中文翻译：

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具有折纸皮肤的模块化软机器人，适用于多种应用。

软机器人技术的最新进展表明需要模块化驱动，以实现快速更换驱动器以进行维护和功能扩展。设计能够进行不同运动并具有一致外观以简化制造和模块化连接的软执行器仍然存在挑战。折纸结构及其独特的折痕重塑成为为软气动执行器提供紧凑约束层的强大工具。受 Waterbomb 和 Kresling 折纸的启发，本文介绍了三种真空驱动的立方体形状和不同折纸皮肤的软执行器，分别具有收缩、弯曲和扭转收缩组合运动。此外，这些具有多样化运动模式的模块化执行器可以通过将硅胶外壳和约束层模压在一起直接制造。在建立预测变形的理论模型后，对具有不同几何参数的执行器进行表征，以优化结构并最大化输出特性。由于形状的一致性，我们的执行器可以进一步模块化，通过榫卯结构实现模块化驱动，提高模块连接的可能性和效率，以实现多功能任务。最终，几种类型的模块化软机器人被创建出来，以实现各种环境中易碎物体的操纵和运动，以展示其潜在的应用。