Iain A. Anderson
Power for robotic artificial muscles
Anderson, Iain A.; O'Brien, Benjamin; Ieropoulos, Ioannis; McKay, Thomas; Melhuish, Chris
Authors
Benjamin O'Brien
Yannis Ieropoulos Ioannis2.Ieropoulos@uwe.ac.uk
Professor in Bioenergy & Director of B-B
Thomas McKay
Chris Melhuish Chris.Melhuish@uwe.ac.uk
Professor of Robotics & Autonomous Systems
Abstract
Artificial muscles based on the dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) are an attractive technology for autonomous robotic systems. We are currently exploring their use on EcoBot (Ecological roBot), an autonomous robot being developed by Bristol Robotics Lab that uses microbial fuel cells (MFCs). DEA will provide actuators for fuel cell maintenance and other goals and will increase active mission time through greater mechanical efficiency and reduced mass. Artificial muscles use high voltages and running them normally requires voltage converters to boost the voltage on delivered charge several hundred times. A dielectric elastomer generator (DEG) when used with a recently developed self-priming circuit (SPC) can supply the high-voltage power directly to artificial muscle systems. The SPC can also be started using an initial low-voltage charge from another energy harvester such as a bank of MFCs or a solar cell array. This combination could lead to a completely autonomous power source for robotic artificial muscles. We demonstrate a proof-of-concept portable self-primed DEG for harvesting wind energy from moving tree branches. © 2006 IEEE.
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Publication Date | Feb 1, 2011 |
Deposit Date | Feb 19, 2013 |
Journal | IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics |
Print ISSN | 1083-4435 |
Publisher | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 16 |
Issue | 1 |
Pages | 107-111 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1109/TMECH.2010.2090894 |
Keywords | fuel cells, power generation, robots |
Public URL | https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/966016 |
Publisher URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TMECH.2010.2090894 |
Related Public URLs | http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=5676220 http://www.ieee-asme-mechatronics.org/ |
Contract Date | Nov 15, 2016 |
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