Pneumatic Tentacle 6 25 2018 110558 AM

A Pneumatic Tentacle Simulation using Autodesk Fusion Event Simulation. The tentacle is constructed on one side of an elastomer with air chambers. On the other flat side, a thin strip of a material with a higher modulus of elasticity. By increasing the pressure in the champers, the elastic side elongates more than the stiff side, causing the tentacle to curl. Autodesk Fusion allows the engineering to virtually simulate a products behavior and make changes to optimize the design prior to manufacture. Near the end of this simulation note that some of the chambers suddenly balloon outward. This can be corrected through the iterative design process made possible with simulations.
This simulation was inspired by a tentacle produced by Festo. Although I am not sure how theirs is constructed internally, this is how I imagine it might be made. Festo makes some amazing innovative devices if you are interested in seeing actual things like this, check out the Festo website.