Enhancing the pressure and force ranges of variable stiffness Soft Pneumatic Sensing Chambers via deformable reservoirs

Soft Pneumatic Sensing Chambers (SPSCs) have the potential to significantly enhance robotic manipulation through their compliance, tactile sensing capabilities, and tunable stiffness. This study expands the pressure and force ranges of an SPSC system with discretely tunable stiffness by integrating a deformable reservoir. Results demonstrate that pressure and force ranges increase by 4.1% and 49.7%, respectively. Then, the transition between the low and high stiffness configurations is assessed. On average, achieving a 5 N force difference requires 1.0 mm of additional compression, while around the transition point the pressure sensitivity increases from 0.4 to 4.8 kPa/mm.