Fiber-Reinforced Elastomeric Enclosures or FREEs are a class of cylindrical soft pneumatic actuators that can rotate as they contract or extend. Previous descriptions of these actuators were unwieldy and required complex iterative evaluations to predict the kinematic behavior. The model I developed dramatically simplifies the description of the actuators into a closed-form kinematic model with three design parameters and one state.

Related Publications

• Felt, W. and Remy, C.D., 2018, “A closed-form kinematic model for Fiber Reinforced Elastomeric Enclosures”, Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics  [URL]
• Felt, W., Lu, S., Remy, C.D., 2018, “Modeling and design of “Smart Braid” inductance sensors for fiber-reinforced elastomeric enclosures”, IEEE Sensors Journal, [URL]
• Felt, W., 2017,”Sensing Methods for Soft Robotics,”, PhD Thesis, [URL]