Tuning the Size and Stiffness of Inflatable Particles
Abstract
We describe size-varying cylindrical particles made from silicone elastomers that can serve as building blocks for robotic granular materials. The particle size variation, which is achieved by inflation, gives rise to changes in stiffness under compression. We design and fabricate inflatable particles that can become stiffer or softer during inflation, depending on key parameters of the particle geometry, such as the ratio of the fillet radius to the wall thickness, r/t. We also conduct numerical simulations of the inflatable particles and show that they only soften during inflation when localization of large strains occurs in the regime r/t -> 0. This work introduces novel particle systems with tunable size and stiffness that can be implemented in numerous soft robotic applications.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2503.07850,
title = {Tuning the Size and Stiffness of Inflatable Particles},
author = {Nidhi Pashine and Dong Wang and Robert Baines and Medha Goyal and Mark D. Shattuck and Corey S. O'Hern and Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.07850},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
10 pages, 8 figures