Abstract
This paper reports a soft fingertip-mountable tactile actuator based on a Dielectric Elastomer Actuator (DEA), which exhibits high output force over a wide frequency range with a lightweight and soft structure. DEA is a soft actuator characterized by its large area strain, fast response speed, and high specific energy density. The proposed soft tactile actuator is constructed of a multi-layered conical DEA structure. This design has safety benefits because it isolates the high voltage components from the contact point. In this paper, the resonance frequency of the tactile actuator was designed to be at 250 Hz to maximize vibrotactile stimulation. In addition, the geometric design parameters of the soft tactile actuator were optimized by conducting the simulations and the experiments. Based on these efforts, the proposed actuator produces a high output force of 8.48 N at the resonance frequency, with a maximum displacement of 0.46 mm. Our wearable prototype was an entirely soft haptic system, which exhibits high output force, as well as flexibility and conformity with a total weight of 2.6 g.
Highlights
Since the turn of a millennium, hand-held devices have become an inseparable tools in our daily lives
A single-layered Dielectric Elastomer Actuator (DEA) based tactile display device was presented [16]
Several researchers have suggested the haptic devices based on such a conical DEA structure, but the output force of the devices (240 mN at 3.5 kV) should be enhanced for effective tactile interface [22], [23]
Summary
Since the turn of a millennium, hand-held devices have become an inseparable tools in our daily lives. To create a light-weight, flexible, and high output force tactile device especially for use in a wearable interfaces, more research needs to be done on other soft actuators. Soft actuators that are characterized by large area strain, fast response, high specific energy density, lightweight, low cost and low power consumption [15] Because of these advantages, several researchers have proposed wearable tactile interfaces using DEAs. First, a single-layered DEA based tactile display device was presented [16]. Several researchers have suggested the haptic devices based on such a conical DEA structure, but the output force of the devices (240 mN at 3.5 kV) should be enhanced for effective tactile interface [22], [23]. The fabricated haptic system is entirely soft, flexible, compact, and light-weight (2.6 g) making it wearable
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