Artificial muscle for soft robotics: Low voltage, high hopes

Phys.org:  Soft robots do a lot of things well but they're not exactly known for their speed. The artificial muscles that move soft robots, called actuators, tend to rely on hydraulics or pneumatics, which are slow to respond and difficult to store.

Dielectric elastomers, soft materials that have good insulating properties, could offer an alternative to pneumatic actuators but they currently require complex and inefficient circuitry to deliver high voltage as well as rigid components to maintain their form—both of which defeat the purpose of a soft robot.

Now, researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a dielectric elastomer with a broad range of motion that requires relatively low voltage and no rigid components. They published their work recently in Advanced Materials.  Cont'd...

Comments (0)

This post does not have any comments. Be the first to leave a comment below.


Post A Comment

You must be logged in before you can post a comment. Login now.

Featured Product

OnLogic Helix 401 Fanless Hybrid-Core Computer

OnLogic Helix 401 Fanless Hybrid-Core Computer

OnLogic's Helix 401 Compact Fanless Computer offers scalable, high-performance processing and can simultaneously drive multiple 4K displays, making it the ideal computing platform for many automation and IIoT applications. The Helix 401 has the horsepower to drive mission-critical applications while requiring less than 28W of power, and is small enough to fit in space-constrained locations or enclosures. It can be configured with a range of Intel® 12th generation processors, up to a Core i7 and has Intel Iris® Xe graphics onboard.