Abstract
Soft actuators play an important role in producing motions in soft robots, and dielectric elastomers have shown great promise because of their considerable voltage-induced deformation. In particular, air-filled dielectric elastomer actuators have been well studied, where the air inside provides prestretches to improve the actuation range. This paper proposes a network of inflated dielectric elastomer actuators, interconnected via a chamber, with the advantages to be highly deformable and continuously controllable. Theoretical analyses show that the networked design is able to largely postpone the occurrence of material failures of the actuators, resulting in a large and continuous actuation range for their control. We further carried out experiments for validation, and the results were largely in line with the theoretical predictions. These findings essentially provide insight into developing networked soft actuators, for achieving large actuation capability.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | ICRA 2017 - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation |
Publisher | IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
Pages | 4332-4337 |
Number of pages | 6 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781509046331 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2017 |
Externally published | Yes |
Event | IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2017 - Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore, Singapore Duration: 29 May 2017 → 3 Jun 2017 http://www.icra2017.org/ https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome/7960754/proceeding (Proceedings) |
Publication series
Name | Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation |
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ISSN (Print) | 1050-4729 |
Conference
Conference | IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2017 |
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Abbreviated title | ICRA 2017 |
Country/Territory | Singapore |
City | Singapore |
Period | 29/05/17 → 3/06/17 |
Internet address |