Miniaturised soft pneumatic actuators are crucial for robotic intervention within highly constrained anatomical pathways. This work presents the design and validation of a fibre-reinforced soft actuator at the centimetre scale for inte- gration into an endoluminal robotic platform for natural-orifice interventional and diagnostic applications. A single-chamber geometry reinforced with embedded Kevlar fibre was de- signed to maximise curvature while preserving sealing integrity, fabricated using a multi-stage multi-stiffness silicone casting process, and validated against a high-fidelity Abaqus FEM using experimentally parametrised hyperelastic material models and embedded beam reinforcement. The semi-cylindrical actuator has an outer diameter of 18,mm and a length of 37.5,mm. Single and double helix winding configurations, fibre pitch, and fibre density were investigated. The optimal 100 SH configuration achieved a bending angle of 202.9° experimentally and 297.6° in simulation, with structural robustness maintained up to 100,kPa and radial expansion effectively constrained by the fibre reinforcement. Workspace evaluation confirmed suitability for integration into the target device envelope, demonstrating that fibre-reinforcement strategies can be effectively translated to the centimetre regime while retaining actuator performance.

翻译：微型化软体气动致动器对于在高度受限的解剖路径内进行机器人介入手术至关重要。本研究提出并验证了一种厘米级纤维增强软体致动器的设计与性能，旨在将其集成至用于自然腔道介入与诊断应用的腔内机器人平台。该致动器采用单腔几何结构，嵌入凯夫拉纤维以增强性能，在最大化曲率的同时保持密封完整性；通过多阶段、多刚度硅胶浇注工艺制造，并利用实验参数化的超弹性材料模型及嵌入式梁增强方法，基于高保真Abaqus有限元模型进行验证。该半圆柱形致动器外径为18毫米，长度为37.5毫米。研究考察了单螺旋与双螺旋缠绕构型、纤维螺距及纤维密度。最优的100 SH构型实验弯曲角达202.9°，仿真弯曲角达297.6°，在100千帕压力下保持结构鲁棒性，且径向膨胀被纤维增强有效约束。工作空间评估确认了其集成至目标装置外壳的可行性，表明纤维增强策略可有效迁移至厘米尺度，同时保持致动器性能。