Printing 3D dielectric elastomer actuators for soft robotics

Stoimenovc, Boyko; Walters, Peter; Rossiter, Jonathan

Abstract

We present a new approach to the fabrication of soft dielectric elastomer actuators using a 3D printing process. Complete actuators including active membranes and support structures can be 3D printed in one go, resulting in a great improvement in fabrication speed and increases in accuracy and consistency. We describe the fabrication process and present force and displacement results for a double-membrane antagonistic actuator. In this structure controlled prestrain is applied by the simple process of pressing together two printed actuator halves. The development of 3D printable soft actuators will have a large impact on many application areas including engineering, medicine and the emerging field of soft robotics. © 2009 SPIE.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: 11th SPIE Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices Conference
• Start Date: Mar 1, 2009
• End Date: Mar 1, 2009
• Publication Date: Sep 10, 2009
• Journal: Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
• Print ISSN: 0277-786X
• Electronic ISSN: 1996-756X
• Publisher: Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7287
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/12.815746
• Keywords: Soft dielectric elastomer actuators, 3D printing process
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/996880
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.815746
• Related Public URLs: http://spie.org/x648.html?product_id=815746