A High‐Lift Micro‐Aerial‐Robot Powered by Low‐Voltage and Long‐Endurance Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

Abstract

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are a special class of artificial muscles that have been used to construct animal‐like soft robotic systems. However, compared with state‐of‐the‐art rigid actuators such as piezoelectric bimorphs and electromagnetic motors, most DEAs require higher driving voltages, and their power density and lifetime remain substantially lower. These limitations pose significant challenges for developing agile and powered autonomous soft robots. Here, a low‐voltage, high‐endurance, and power‐dense DEA based on novel multiple‐layering techniques and electrode‐material optimization, is reported. When operated at 400 Hz, the 143 mg DEA generates forces of 0.36 N and displacements of 1.15 mm. This DEA is incorporated into an aerial robot to demonstrate high performance. The robot achieves a high lift‐to‐weight ratio of 3.7, a low hovering voltage of 500 V, and a long lifetime that exceeds 2 million actuation cycles. With 20 s of hovering time, and position and attitude error smaller than 2.5 cm and 2°, respectively, the robot demonstrates the longest and best‐performing flight among existing sub‐gram aerial robots. This important milestone demonstrates that soft robots can outperform their state‐of‐the‐art rigid counterparts, and it provides an important step toward realizing power autonomy in soft robotic flights.

Design, Characterization, and Liftoff of an Insect-Scale Soft Robotic Dragonfly Powered by Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

“…In this section, we describe the design and fabrication of the soft robotic dragonfly. In prior works [ 13 , 14 , 15 ], we developed a soft aerial robot in which a pair of wings is driven by a single DEA. To investigate forewing–hindwing interactions, we create a new design in which two DEAs are positioned in series.…”

“…Figure 3 b shows a sample high-speed camera image. The stroke and pitch kinematics can be extracted through tracking key wing features [ 15 ] in each frame of a video. This sample image shows the left- and right-wing kinematics are not symmetric due to imprecision in the robot assembly process.…”

“…In recent years, we created power-dense dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) and incorporated them into a new class of insect-scale soft aerial robots [ 13 , 14 , 15 ] ( Figure 1 a). These soft-actuated aerial robots have demonstrated insect-like resilience [ 14 ] and agility [ 13 ].…”

“…These soft-actuated aerial robots have demonstrated insect-like resilience [ 14 ] and agility [ 13 ]. However, despite the improvement in the DEA design and fabrication, these soft actuators require over 500 V [ 15 ] to operate, which imposes significant challenges for developing compact and efficient high-voltage power electronics. To achieve power autonomous flight in future soft aerial robots, it is important to improve a robot’s aerodynamic efficiency and net lift.…”

Development, Statistical Optimization and Characterization of Fluvastatin Loaded Solid Lipid Nanoparticles: A 32 Factorial Design Approach

“…These involve the inclusion of drugs into a lipophilic prodrug and drug lipophilicity enhancement [ 3 ]. It has been documented that the lipid-based delivery mechanisms were found to improve the bioavailability of lipid-soluble drugs by the lymphatic flow [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ].…”