A soft robotic actuator using dielectric minimum energy structures

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  • Presented at: 2nd International Conference on Electromechanically Active Polymer (EAP) transducers & artificial muscles, Potsdam (Berlin), Germany, May 29-30, 2012
  • Publication date: 2012

Dielectric minimum energy structures are capable of large actuation stroke, and consist of a pre-stretched dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) laminated onto a flexible frame, which makes it easy to obtain both simple and complex shapes. We report here on the fabrication and characterization of a prototype capable of one-dimensional bending actuation. For the DEA, several combinations of ion-implanted PDMS membranes and uniaxial pre-stretch ratio were used. The actuator was characterized by measuring the deformation and output force vs. applied voltage. The results showed that the prototype is able to exhibit bending actuation in the range of around 60 deg. Additionally the initial deformation depends on fabrication parameters such as thickness of the materials, pre-stretch ratio as well as dose of implanted ions.

    Note:

    This research project is funded by Swiss National Center for Competence in Research (NCCR) Robotics project – No. 1.2 Sensorymotor tissues and Swiss National Science Foundation Grant #140394. smt

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