Soft robots are made of compliant materials that perform their tasks by deriving motion from elastic deformations. They are used in various applications, e.g., for handling fragile objects, navigating sensitive/complex environments, etc., and are typically actuated by Pneumatic/hydraulic loads. Though demands for soft robots are continuously increasing in various engineering sectors, due to the lack of systematic approaches, they are primarily designed manually. This paper presents a systematic density-based topology optimization approach to designing soft robots while considering the design-dependent behavior of the actuating loads. We use the Darcy law with the conceptualized drainage term to model the design-dependent nature of the applied pressure loads. The standard finite element is employed to evaluate the consistent nodal loads from the obtained pressure field. The robust topology optimization formulation is used with the multi-criteria objective. The success of the presented approach is demonstrated by designing a member/soft robot of the pneumatic networks (PneuNets). The optimized member is combined in several series to get different PneuNets. Their CAD models are generated, and they are studied with high-pressure loads in a commercial software. Depending upon the number of members in the PneuNets, different output motions are noted.

翻译：软体机器人采用柔软材料制造，通过弹性变形实现其任务。它们在各种应用中被使用，例如用于处理易碎物品、在敏感/复杂环境中导航等，一般由气动/液压负载驱动。虽然各个工程领域对软体机器人的需求不断增加，但由于缺乏系统性方法，它们主要是手动设计。本文提出了一种基于密度的拓扑优化方法，用于在考虑负载行为的情况下设计软体机器人。我们采用Darcy定律，并概念化排水项来模拟施加压力的负载设计相关性质。采用标准有限元来评估所得到的压力场中的一致节点载荷。采用多目标鲁棒拓扑优化公式，以优化PneuNets的成员/软体机器人。优化后的成员通过数个组合得到不同的PneuNets。它们的CAD模型已生成，并在商业软件中通过高压负荷进行了研究，根据PneuNets成员数量的不同，观察到不同的输出运动。