{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,23]],"date-time":"2026-04-23T19:00:53Z","timestamp":1776970853144,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,2,24]],"date-time":"2016-02-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1456272000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Robotics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The excellent compliance and large range of motion of soft actuators controlled by fluid pressure has lead to strong interest in applying devices of this type for biomimetic and human-robot interaction applications. However, in contrast to soft actuators fabricated from stretchable silicone materials, conventional technologies for position sensing are typically rigid or bulky and are not ideal for integration into soft robotic devices. Therefore, in order to facilitate the use of soft pneumatic actuators in applications where position sensing or closed loop control is required, a soft pneumatic bending actuator with an integrated carbon nanotube position sensor has been developed. The integrated carbon nanotube position sensor presented in this work is flexible and well suited to measuring the large displacements frequently encountered in soft robotics. The sensor is produced by a simple soft lithography process during the fabrication of the soft pneumatic actuator, with a greater than 30% resistance change between the relaxed state and the maximum displacement position. It is anticipated that integrated resistive position sensors using a similar design will be useful in a wide range of soft robotic systems.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/robotics5010007","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,2,24]],"date-time":"2016-02-24T17:11:42Z","timestamp":1456333902000},"page":"7","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":45,"title":["Soft Pneumatic Bending Actuator with Integrated Carbon Nanotube Displacement Sensor"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"5","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4858-9582","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tim","family":"Giffney","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Mechatronics Engineering, University of Auckland, 20 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mengying","family":"Xie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mechatronics Engineering, University of Auckland, 20 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Aaron","family":"Yong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mechatronics Engineering, University of Auckland, 20 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Andrew","family":"Wong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mechatronics Engineering, University of Auckland, 20 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Philippe","family":"Mousset","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mechatronics Engineering, University of Auckland, 20 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Andrew","family":"McDaid","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mechatronics Engineering, University of Auckland, 20 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9308-508X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kean","family":"Aw","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mechatronics Engineering, University of Auckland, 20 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,2,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"99","DOI":"10.1155\/2008\/520417","article-title":"Soft robotics: Biological inspiration, state of the art, and future research","volume":"5","author":"Trivedi","year":"2008","journal-title":"Appl. Bionics Biomech."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1890","DOI":"10.1002\/anie.201006464","article-title":"Soft Robotics for Chemists","volume":"50","author":"Ilievski","year":"2011","journal-title":"Angew. Chem. Int. Ed."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"135","DOI":"10.1016\/j.robot.2014.08.014","article-title":"Soft robotic glove for combined assistance and at-home rehabilitation","volume":"73","author":"Polygerinos","year":"2015","journal-title":"Robot. Auton. Syst."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20400","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1116564108","article-title":"Multigait soft robot","volume":"108","author":"Shepherd","year":"2011","journal-title":"Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"709","DOI":"10.1163\/156855312X626343","article-title":"Soft Robot Arm Inspired by the Octopus","volume":"26","author":"Laschi","year":"2012","journal-title":"Adv. Robot."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S42","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-3182\/2\/2\/S05","article-title":"Artificial annelid robot driven by soft actuators","volume":"2","author":"Jung","year":"2007","journal-title":"Bioinspir. Biomim."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S31","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-3182\/2\/2\/S04","article-title":"An artificial muscle actuator for biomimetic underwater propulsors","volume":"2","author":"Yim","year":"2007","journal-title":"Bioinspir. Biomim."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Aw, K., and McDaid, A. (2014). Bio-applications of ionic polymer metal composite transducers. Smart Mater. Struct., 23.","DOI":"10.1088\/0964-1726\/23\/7\/074005"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Galloway, K., Polygerinos, P., Walsh, C., and Wood, R. (2013, January 25\u201329). Mechanically programmable bend radius for fiber-reinforced soft actuators. Proceedings of the 2013 16th International Conference on Advanced Robotics, ICAR 2013, Montevideo, Uruguay.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICAR.2013.6766586"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2163","DOI":"10.1002\/adfm.201303288","article-title":"Pneumatic networks for soft robotics that actuate rapidly","volume":"24","author":"Mosadegh","year":"2014","journal-title":"Adv. Funct. Mater."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"467","DOI":"10.1038\/nature14543","article-title":"Design, fabrication and control of soft robots","volume":"521","author":"Rus","year":"2015","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dobrzynski, M., Pericet-Camara, R., and Floreano, D. (2011, January 25\u201330). Contactless deflection sensor for soft robots. Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE\/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), San Francisco, CA, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/IROS.2011.6048425"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105","DOI":"10.1109\/TMECH.2014.2307006","article-title":"Soft Two-Degree-of-Freedom Dielectric Elastomer Position Sensor Exhibiting Linear Behavior","volume":"20","author":"Girard","year":"2015","journal-title":"IEEE\/ASME Trans. Mech."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4056","DOI":"10.1109\/JSEN.2013.2272320","article-title":"Design and characterization of a soft multi-axis force sensor using embedded microfluidic channels","volume":"13","author":"Vogt","year":"2013","journal-title":"IEEE Sens. J."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6307","DOI":"10.1002\/adma.201400334","article-title":"Embedded 3D printing of strain sensors within highly stretchable elastomers","volume":"26","author":"Muth","year":"2014","journal-title":"Adv. Mater."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"296","DOI":"10.1038\/nnano.2011.36","article-title":"A stretchable carbon nanotube strain sensor for human-motion detection","volume":"6","author":"Yamada","year":"2011","journal-title":"Nat. Nanotechnol."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Amjadi, M., Yoon, Y., and Park, I. (2015). Ultra-stretchable and skin-mountable strain sensors using carbon nanotubes-Ecoflex nanocomposites. Nanotechnology, 26.","DOI":"10.1088\/0957-4484\/26\/37\/375501"},{"key":"ref_18","unstructured":"Polygerinos, P., Mosadegh, B., and Campo, A. PneuNets Bending Actuators. Available online: http:\/\/softroboticstoolkit.com\/book\/pneunets-bending-actuator."},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"Smooth-On, Inc. Available online: http:\/\/www.smooth-on.com\/tb\/files\/ECOFLEXSERIESTB.pdf."},{"key":"ref_20","first-page":"120","article-title":"The OpenCV Library","volume":"25","author":"Bradski","year":"2000","journal-title":"Dr. Dobbs J."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Amjadi, M., and Park, I. (2015, January 18\u201322). Carbon nanotubes-ecoflex nanocomposite for strain sensing with ultra-high stretchability. Proceedings of 2015 28th IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS), Estoril, Portugal.","DOI":"10.1109\/MEMSYS.2015.7051065"}],"container-title":["Robotics"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2218-6581\/5\/1\/7\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T19:19:38Z","timestamp":1760210378000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2218-6581\/5\/1\/7"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2016,2,24]]},"references-count":21,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2016,3]]}},"alternative-id":["robotics5010007"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/robotics5010007","relation":{},"ISSN":["2218-6581"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2218-6581","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2016,2,24]]}}}