Soft Actuators and their Fabrication for Bio-Inspired Mobile Robots

Abstract

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEA), which are capable of muscle-like actuation, have potential to drive insect-inspired flapping-wing robotfly. There have yet been successfully used to drive flapping wings due to various limitations. This paper revisits their use and integration in a thoracic mechanism as either indirect or direct muscles. Three forms of DEA, i.e. folded, rolled, and pre-stretched membrane, were evaluated and integrated in different thoracic mechanisms. The pre-strained membrane of dielectric elastomer was found capable of generating a large rotation. On the other hand, the folded and rolled ones with either no or little pre-strain performed modestly in this flapping-wing application. Pre-strain was found to be important to maximize the actuator performance. In addition, this paper reviewed manufacturing processes for multi-layered DEAs and possibility of introducing pre-strained in the multi-layered layup.

Design, Manufacturing, and Characterization of Thin, Core-Free, Rolled Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

“…Furthermore, their particular shape makes it possible to bundle together several rolls, thus allowing to design highly energy-dense actuator systems. Among the most promising fields of applications for RDEAs, it is worth mentioning artificial muscle fibers for soft robotics applications [11,12].…”

“…Figure11. Prescribed displacement (upper part), the measured forces for 0 V (blue) and 3000 V (red) (center part), and capacitance for 0 V (lower part) of the CORDEA specimen 1 over time.To further investigate the performance and compare the CORDEA to the hollow RDEA, the acquired displacement and force data are normalized.…”

“…Figure11. Prescribed displacement (upper part), the measured forces for 0 V (blue) and 3000 V (red) (center part), and capacitance for 0 V (lower part) of the CORDEA specimen 1 over time.…”