Elastic Cube Actuator with Six Degrees of Freedom Output

Pengchuan Wang, Andrew Conn

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)
327 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Unlike conventional rigid actuators, soft robotic technologies possess inherent compliance, so they can stretch and twist along every axis without the need for articulated joints. This compliance is exploited here using dielectric elastomer membranes to develop a novel six degrees of freedom (6-DOF) polymer actuator that unifies ordinarily separate components into a simple cubic structure. This cube actuator design incorporates elastic dielectric elastomer membranes on four faces which are coupled by a cross-shaped end effector. The inherent elasticity of each membrane greatly reduces kinematic constraint and enables a 6-DOF actuation output to be produced via the end effector. An electro-mechanical model of the cube actuator is presented that captures the non-linear hyperelastic behaviour of the active membranes. It is demonstrated that the model accurately predicts actuator displacement and blocking moment for a range of input voltages. Experimental testing of a prototype 60 mm device demonstrates 6-DOF operation. The prototype produces maximum linear and rotational displacements of ±2.6 mm (±4.3%) and ±4.8° respectively and a maximum blocking moment of ±76 mNm. The capacity for full 6-DOF actuation from a compact, readily scalable and easily fabricated polymeric package enables implementation in a range of mechatronics and robotics applications.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)203-216
Number of pages14
JournalActuators
Volume4
Issue number3
Early online date8 Sept 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2015

Keywords

  • multi-axis actuators; soft robotics; dielectric elastomer; electro-active polymers; hyperelastic modelling
  • soft robotcs
  • dielectric elastomer
  • electro-active polymers
  • hyperelastic modelling

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