Modeling a soft robotic mechanism articulated with dielectric elastomer actuators

Nguyen, Chuc Huu; Alici, Gürsel; Mutlu, Rahim

doi:10.1109/aim.2014.6878144

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The recent breakthrough applications of EAPs in aerospace field have attracted a lot of attention. Visco-elastic EAP materials could provide more lifelike aesthetics, vibration and shock dampening and more flexible actuator designs (Nguyen et al, 2014). EAPs incorporate a class of encouraging materials for sensing, yet are still new to most specialists taking a shot at sensor-related subjects, as till now there is no material that can cover all sensory requirements.…”

Section: Applications Of Eaps In Aerospacementioning

confidence: 99%

A review on electroactive polymers development for aerospace applications

Bashir

Rajendran

2018

Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures

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Newfangled smart materials have inspired the researchers to look for more efficient materials that can respond to specific stimuli and retain the original shape. Electroactive polymers are such materials which are capable of sensing and real-time actuation. Various electroactive polymers are excellent candidates due to high strain rate, fast response, reliability and high mechanical compliance despite tough manufacturing. In this study, electroactive polymers are reviewed and the general enabling mechanisms employing their distinct characteristics are presented, and the factors influencing the properties of various electroactive polymers are also discussed. Our study also enumerates the current trends in the development of electroactive polymers along with its progress in aerospace discipline. The electromechanical properties of electroactive polymer materials endow them the capability to work as both sensors and actuators in the field of aerospace. Hence, we provide an overview of various applications of electroactive polymers in aerospace field, notably aircraft morphing. These actuators are vastly used in aerospace applications like Mars Nano-rover, space robotic, flapping wings and active flap. Therefore, the electroactive polymer applications such as effective actuators can be investigated more in their materials, molecular interactions, electromechanics and actuation mechanisms. Considering electroactive polymers unique properties, they will endeavour the great potential applications within aerospace industry.

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Section: Applications Of Eaps In Aerospacementioning

confidence: 99%

A review on electroactive polymers development for aerospace applications

Bashir

Rajendran

2018

Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures

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“…Historically, many researchers have investigated the behavior of these actuators. Due to the viscoelastic properties of these materials, the elastic modulus of dielectric actuators changes during operation [26]. A number of researches have been conducted to model the hyperelastic behavior of both isotropic and anisotropic dielectric materials [16,18,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-Trigger Thermo-Electro-Mechanical Soft Actuators under Large Deformations

et al. 2020

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Dielectric actuators (DEAs), because of their exceptional properties, are well-suited for soft actuators (or robotics) applications. This article studies a multi-stimuli thermo-dielectric-based soft actuator under large bending conditions. In order to determine the stress components and induced moment (or stretches), a nominal Helmholtz free energy density function with two types of hyperelastic models are employed. Non-linear electro-elasticity theory is adopted to derive the governing equations of the actuator. Total deformation gradient tensor is multiplicatively decomposed into electro-mechanical and thermal parts. The problem is solved using the second-order Runge-Kutta method. Then, the numerical results under thermo-mechanical loadings are validated against the finite element method (FEM) outcomes by developing a user-defined subroutine, UHYPER in a commercial FEM software. The effect of electric field and thermal stimulus are investigated on the mean radius of curvature and stresses distribution of the actuator. Results reveal that in the presence of electric field, the required moment to actuate the actuator is smaller. Finally, due to simplicity and accuracy of the present boundary problem, the proposed thermally-electrically actuator is expected to be used in future studies and 4D printing of artificial thermo-dielectric-based beam muscles.

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“…Extensive endeavours have been devoted to this research domain, for instance, an optimization framework was proposed in [15] to design and analyse underactuated biped walkers, which are characterized by actuated or passive joints with rigid or non-negligible elastic actuation/transmission elements. Visco-elastic models were proposed in [16] for a soft robotic mechanism horizontally actuated by two dielectric elastomer actuators. To maximize the energy dissipated in transparent laminates under low velocity impact, a genetic algorithm was employed in [17] to optimize a model considering thermo-elasto-visco-plastic materials.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A self-propelled robotic system with a visco-elastic joint: dynamics and motion analysis

Liu

Huda

Tang

et al. 2019

Engineering with Computers

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This paper studies the dynamics and motion generation of a self-propelled robotic system with a visco-elastic joint. The system is underactuated, legless and wheelless, and has potential applications in environmental inspection and operation in restricted space which are inaccessible to human beings, such as pipeline inspection, medical assistance and disaster rescues. Locomotion of the system relies on the stick-slip effects, which interacts with the frictional force at the surface in contact. The nonlinear robotic model utilizes combined tangential-wise and normal-wise vibrations for underactuated locomotion, which features a generic significance for the studies on self-propelled systems. To identify the characteristics of the visco-elastic joint and shed light on the energy efficacy, parameter dependences on stiffness and damping coefficients are thoroughly analysed. Our studies demonstrate that dynamic behaviour of the self-propelled system is mainly periodic and desirable forward motion is achieved via identification of the variation laws of the control parameters and elaborate selection of the stiffness and damping coefficients. A motion generation strategy is developed, and an analytical two-stage motion profile is proposed based on the system response and dynamic constraint analysis, followed by a parameterization procedure to optimally generate the trajectory. The proposed method provides a novel approach in generating self-propelled locomotion, and designing and computing the visco-elastic parameters for energy efficacy. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed model and motion generation approach.

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Modeling a soft robotic mechanism articulated with dielectric elastomer actuators

Cited by 14 publications

References 17 publications

A review on electroactive polymers development for aerospace applications

A review on electroactive polymers development for aerospace applications

Multi-Trigger Thermo-Electro-Mechanical Soft Actuators under Large Deformations

A self-propelled robotic system with a visco-elastic joint: dynamics and motion analysis

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