• soft robotics
• shell buckling
• actuators

Soft Robotics is a relatively new discipline which aims at using either soft or relatively thin materials to create adaptable robotic systems. Often, the design of soft actuators is based on trial and error, resulting in soft actuators that require relatively large elastic deformations to operate. As a result, a large portion of the power is lost, and only part of the energy is used to generate useful work. In an effort to improve the efficiency of soft actuators, we aim to better understand the real-world behavior of nonlinear elastomeric circular cylinders and the actual emergence of particular morphologies within the post-buckling regime. The importance of buckling is intimately related to the modification of the inner volume of the cylinder, which leads to an effective fluid volume displacement. Understanding buckling phenomenology means quantifying the volume displaced and enabling the assumption of a new paradigm in the design of soft pumps.