2025/10/27 by Yuki Ota, Ota, Yuki, Yuki Funabora +1 · 1 voice
Engineering · #Advanced Materials and Mechanics #Aeroelasticity and Vibration Control #Architecture and Computational Design
paper · doi:10.1109/lra.2026.3703257
openalex publication_date 2026/06/12 · openalex created_date 2026/06/13 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
This paper presents a novel Embroidery Actuator, a fabric-integrated pneumatic actuator that enables diverse and controllable deformations through embroidery pattern design. Unlike conventional fabric actuators that rely on fiber- or thread-shaped actuators, the proposed actuator is fabricated by directly stitching an inflatable tube onto the fabric using a cord-embroidery technique. The embroidered thread and the fabric jointly form a sleeve that constrains the expansion of the inflatable tube, converting internal pressure into targeted bending or stretching deformations. By varying the embroidery pattern, such as zigzag or cross configurations, different geometric constraints can be realized, allowing for flexible control of deformation direction and magnitude. Analytical deformation models based on theNeo-Hookean modelandLagrange's equationswere developed to predict the relationship between pneumatic pressure and bending angle. And then,experiments demonstrated that the actuator achieved 47 degrees of flexion on the fabric surface side and 165 degrees on the reverse side by altering the embroidery pattern. Additionally, the created model expressed deformation with an error margin of several degrees.