Embroidery Actuator Utilizing Embroidery Patterns to Generate Diverse Fabric Deformations

TL;DR

This work introduces the Embroidery Actuator, a fabric-integrated pneumatic actuator that converts the radial expansion of a stitched inflatable tube into controllable fabric deformations via embroidery patterns. By stitching the tube onto fabric with patterns such as zigzag or cross, a nonuniform sleeve constrains expansion and induces anisotropic bending or stretching, with deformation governed by embroidery geometry. The authors develop an analytical deformation model based on the Neo-Hookean energy and Lagrange’s equations, and validate it experimentally against motion-capture measurements, showing strong agreement. The approach enables high design flexibility, scalable sizing, and intuitive pattern-driven control of complex fabric deformations, with potential extensions to multifunctional actuators using sensing or conductive threads.

Abstract

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 the Neo-Hookean model and Lagrange's equations were developed to predict the relationship between pneumatic pressure and bending angle, and were experimentally validated using motion-capture measurements. The results demonstrated that the actuator achieves strong agreement with the analytical deformation model.

Figures (8)

• Figure 1: Structure of the Embroidery Actuator.The threads and the fabric jointly enclose the inflatable tube, to which the air channel is connected.
• Figure 2: Fabrication process of the Embroidery Actuator: (a)Designing the embroidery pattern that stitches the inflatable tube onto the fabric.(b) Stitching inflatable tube onto the fabric.(c) Processing the terminals of the inflatable tube to enable pneumatic pressurization.
• Figure 3: Embroidery patterns and photographs of the prototypes: (a)For the zigzag-pattern actuators, the stitch interval was set to 1.0 mm, and embroidery width was 7 mm. For the cross-pattern actuators, the stitch interval was set to 1.4 mm, embroidery width was 7 mm, and embroidery angle is 45 deg.(b)The fabricated prototypes.
• Figure 4: Deformation of prototypes: (a)Bending toward the front side of the fabric.(b)Bending toward the back side of the fabric.
• Figure 5: Experiment platform. (a) 14 markers were attached to the prototype surface in two rows of seven at 10-mm intervals. The prototype was then suspended from the aluminum frame. (b) During bending, the angles ($\theta_1, \theta_2, \ldots, \theta_5$) formed between the straight lines connecting adjacent markers were calculated, and the sum of the angles was defined as bending angle.