Challenges and Perspectives in Control of Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite (IPMC) Actuators: A Survey

Alvo Aabloo,Vadim Kaparin,Ulle Kotta,Juri Belikov

doi:10.1109/access.2020.3007020

Abstract

Ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMC) are electroactive polymers expected to be used as soft actuators in various practical areas like robotics, biomedicine and micro manipulation systems. Though IPMC actuators have many advantages (lightweight, noiseless operation, low operating voltage, possibility of miniaturization), some of their inherent properties (back-relaxation, hysteresis, high sensitivity to ambient conditions, aging) make their precise and reliable control a challenging task. This paper presents a survey of control methods for IPMC actuators. A systematic overview of the techniques, addressing the main challenges in IPMC control, is provided.

Highlights

Ionic electroactive polymers (IEAPs) are a type of smart materials that have the ability to change their shape while an external power source is applied
The actuators made of IEAP materials have several beneficial features such as high compliance, lightweight, large strain, low voltage, biocompatibility, high force to weight ratio, and ability to operate in an aqueous environment as well as in open air [2]
The performances of the nonsingular terminal sliding mode (NTSM) and PID controllers were compared under the same experimental conditions and the results showed the superiority of the NTSM over the PID controller

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Ionic electroactive polymers (IEAPs) are a type of smart materials that have the ability to change their shape while an external power source is applied. The materials can be fabricated in different shapes and can be scaled down to microscopic sizes [3] Due to these advantages, IEAP actuators are considered promising in the field of soft robotic systems. All of these models do not take into account the aging of actuators The objective of this survey is to review how various control methods are used to overcome various challenges, arising in operation of IEAP actuators. More general review of IPMC actuators can be found in [25]

CONTROL METHODS

Findings

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION