Abstract
This paper reviews state-of-the-art dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) and their future perspectives as soft actuators which have recently been considered as a key power generation component for soft robots. This paper begins with the introduction of the working principle of the dielectric elastomer actuators. Because the operation of DEA includes the physics of both mechanical viscoelastic properties and dielectric characteristics, we describe theoretical modeling methods for the DEA before introducing applications. In addition, the design of artificial muscles based on DEA is also introduced. This paper reviews four popular subjects for the application of DEA: soft robot hand, locomotion robots, wearable devices, and tunable optical components. Other potential applications and challenging issues are described in the conclusion.
Highlights
With a recent robot design paradigm shift from conventional rigid body robots to soft robots with compliant bodies, in the area of soft actuators, electroactive polymers (EAPs) have been proposed as powerful materials for implementing a flexible actuation mechanism
This paper focuses on the review of potential capabilities and future perspectives of dielectric elastomer actuators for robotics applications
DE gripper with other strategy: (a) DE gripper with stiffness modulation of low-melting-point alloy (LMPA) [91]; (b) DE gripper with stiffness modulation of electrostatic chucking [93]; (c) multipurposed electro-adhesion pattern for DE actuation [94]; (d) Grasping objects by using DE gripper with electro-adhesion [94]
Summary
With a recent robot design paradigm shift from conventional rigid body robots to soft robots with compliant bodies, in the area of soft actuators, electroactive polymers (EAPs) have been proposed as powerful materials for implementing a flexible actuation mechanism. As a type of EAP, dielectric elastomer works as a kind of actuator driven by the effective electrostriction between compliant electrodes and dielectric polymers [1] Thanks to their light weight, flexibility with non-geometric constraints, cost-effectiveness, and fast response, dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) configured to various shapes are capable of enlarging their potentials to artificial muscle-like actuators [2]. This paper focuses on the review of potential capabilities and future perspectives of dielectric elastomer actuators for robotics applications. TheSection robot hand based on DEAs enables the stable and gentle grasping of very brittle and soft objects. This locomotive issue in soft 6 describes the designing mobility of a DEA-based mechanism This locomotive issue inwe robotics often mimics natures as a bioinspired design [8]. DEAsnew which require very high driving voltage.issues for the more practical use of DEAs which require very high driving voltage
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