Development of an amphibious robotic propulsor based on electroactive polymers

Abstract

This paper presents the project of a robotic device for propulsion in aquatic environment. The propulsor is a biologically inspired system characterized by efficiency and flexibility for locomotion environment changing: the legs of anuran amphibious. These animals are exceptionally adapted to locomotion in water and land. This type of locomotion requires specific features of the mechanisms that are hardly provided by traditional solutions based on standard electric motors. The proposed approach is based on ionomeric polymers-metal composites drives, constituting a system commonly called artificial muscle. The paper presents the anuran locomotion modeling, a description of the electroactive polymers, the experimental production procedures and results, and also discusses some constructive aspects of a first device prototype.