Journal
IEEE-ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS
Volume 11, Issue 4, Pages 448-456Publisher
IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC
DOI: 10.1109/TMECH.2006.878542
Keywords
binary actuation; bistable mechanism design; hyperredundant manipulator; polymer actuators
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Binary actuation has been proposed to reduce complexity in robotic and mechatronic systems. However, a relatively large number of binary actuators are required to achieve the accuracy necessary for practical applications. Conventional actuators are not practical for such large degree-of-freedom (DoF) devices. Here, a dielectric elastomer (DE) actuator is developed for these applications. It is shown that DE actuators have high energy densities, light weight, low cost, and large displacements. Hence they could potentially make large DoF binary systems practical. DE ac-tuators proposed here consist of thin electrically sensitive elastomer films that are mounted in a flexible frame that incorporates a passive bistable element. The frame prestrains the film and provides a restoring force that allows the actuator to operate bidirectionally. A simple experimental prototype 6-DoF binary manipulator demonstrates the concept.
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