One Soft Step: Bio-Inspired Artificial Muscle Mechanisms for Space Applications

Abstract

Soft robots, devices with deformable bodies and powered by soft actuators, may fill a hitherto unexplored niche in outer space. All space-bound payloads are heavily limited in terms of mass and volume, due to the cost of launch and the size of spacecraft. Being constructed from stretchable materials allows many possibilities for compacting soft robots for launch and later deploying into a much larger volume, through folding, rolling, and inflation. This morphability can also be beneficial for adapting to operation in different environments, providing versatility, and robustness. To be truly soft, a robot must be powered by soft actuators. Dielectric elastomer transducers (DETs) offer many advantages as artificial muscles. They are lightweight, have a high work density, and are capable of artificial proprioception. Taking inspiration from nature, in particular the starfish podia, we present here bio-inspired inflatable DET actuators powering low-mass robots capable of performing complex motion that can be compacted to a fraction of their operating size.

Advances in artificial muscles: A brief literature and patent review

“…The application of artificial muscles in a wide range is already visible, including some interesting frontiers such as programmable biomimetic actuators ( Dong et al, 2019 ), shape-color-switchable thermochromic actuators ( Wang X et al, 2019 ), space robots ( Ashby et al, 2022 ), and micro vehicles ( Chen and Zhang, 2019 ). All signs indicate that artificial muscles are competitive in replacing conventional actuators in areas that require strong human-machine interaction and strong adaptability to the surrounding environment now.…”

Vision-Based Soft Mobile Robot Inspired by Silkworm Body and Movement Behavior

“…Silkworm is a slow and weak walking insect with a segmented body and three normal legs in addition to rear leglike parts [54]- [57]. Fig.…”

Soft Motion of Dielectric Driven Balloon Actuator

“…With their lightweight and soft bodies, soft actuators are expected to find applications in the medical and aerospace fields. They can be driven by various inputs, including pneumatic [2,4,5], magnetic [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15], thermal [16,17], and electrical [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] methods. In this study, we focus on electrically-driven soft actuators and have developed dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) due to their superior responsibility, durability, and energy efficiency [29].…”