Development of Bendable Elliptical Cone Dielectric Elastomer Actuator

Abstract

Many biomimetic robots have been developed using soft actuators. Among soft actuators, dielectric elastomer actuators(DEA) have attracted much attention because of their features such as large actuation strain. In this paper, an elliptical cone DEA, which is a modification of the cone DEA, is developed inspired by the cross-sectional shape of a fish. The elliptical cone DEA has patterned electrodes and bends to the left and right. Experiments were conducted on this elliptical cone DEA, and a bending angle of 15.7 deg and a force of 318 mN were realized. These values are 1.49 and 2.15 times higher than those of a cone DEA fabricated under the same conditions, respectively. A prototype of underwater robot was also built using the DEA actuator, and it was confirmed that the robot can swim at a maximum speed of 37.7 mm/s in an insulating fluid.