PneuChip: A Compact Pneumatic Controller for Large-scale Soft Artificial Muscles

Abstract

Pneumatic soft actuators are known for their versatility and reliability; however, their control presents a major challenge as systems scale beyond tens of actuators. Traditional rigid pneumatic valves add bulk, weight, and complexity, while most soft valves fail to generate programmable independent output states. We propose PneuChip, a compact pneumatic controller designed for large-scale soft actuators. The PneuChip functions as a two-dimensional array with rows and columns, controlled by m + n input signals to generate ${2^{m + n}} - {2^m} - {2^n} + 2$ distinct output states, enabling programmable control over m × n soft actuators. To validate its effectiveness, we implemented PneuChip in a muscular-skeletal robotic arm comprising 24 Miura-Ori inspired, negative pressure-actuated artificial muscles and a rigid two-link skeleton connected by a ball joint. A 4×6 PneuChip was fabricated and integrated to control the arm’s 3 degree of freedoms (DOFs) motion. Within a 120° rotation range, the robot arm achieved 946 distinct positions with smooth state transitions, paving the way for future applications in trajectory tracking and dexterous manipulation. The compact design and high controllability of PneuChip promise to notably simplify complex pneumatic systems, significantly enhancing the practicality of large-scale soft robots for various applications.