Networked soft actuators with large deformations

Feifei Chen, Jiawei Cao, Lei Zhang, Hongying Zhang, Michael Yu Wang, Jian Zhu, Y. F. Zhang

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference PaperOther

8 Citations (Scopus)

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 languageEnglish
Title of host publicationICRA 2017 - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation
PublisherIEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Pages4332-4337
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9781509046331
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017
Externally publishedYes
EventIEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2017 - Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore, Singapore
Duration: 29 May 20173 Jun 2017
http://www.icra2017.org/
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/conhome/7960754/proceeding (Proceedings)

Publication series

NameProceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation
ISSN (Print)1050-4729

Conference

ConferenceIEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2017
Abbreviated titleICRA 2017
Country/TerritorySingapore
CitySingapore
Period29/05/173/06/17
Internet address

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