Development of a PVC Gel Actuator with a Particulate Structure

Abstract

Actuators are usually driven in a uniaxial direction, which limits their ability to be driven with multiple degrees of freedom. In this study, we propose an actuator that is not limited to a uniaxial direction. We developed a polyvinyl chloride gel actuator with a particulate structure. The actuator can change its surface shape by displacing each particle in the structure. As the first step in this experiment, each particle was displaced independently, by applying a voltage to the anode to change the actuator’s surface into an uneven shape.