Electrically actuated soft actuator integrated with an electrochemical reactor

Abstract

The soft actuators integrated with the reversible proton exchange membrane fuel cell (RPEMFC) structure exhibit the potential to serve in portable and untethered soft robots with advantages of electric actuation, and compact and lightweight structure. But their performances in actuation strain, load capacity, controllability, and robustness are expected to be further improved. Here, a soft electrochemical actuator (SECA) that is integrated with an electrochemical reactor (ECR) designed based on the RPEMFC structure is reported. The ECR works as a pneumatic source that provides regulated pneumatic pressure through the water electrolysis reaction and hydrogen–oxygen fuel cell reaction. With the designed water-containing structure, the ECR has an improved performance of robustness to pose variations. The SECA can reach controllable deformation by the proposed actuation and deformation control methods which require a low-voltage (<3 V) and simple electrical system. With the new structural design, the SECA achieves excellent performances of large actuation deformation (150% actuation strain) and a high load-to-weight ratio (25:1) with a lightweight, compact, and easy-to-fabricate structure.