Design of Quadruped robot single-leg system by Ionic polymer metal composites actuators array

Abstract

Soft actuators composed of ionic polymer metal composites actuators (IPMCs) can provide remarkable performance such as high power-to-weight ratios for the soft robots. Our work presents the kinematic design of the single bionic leg. The IPMC array muscle composed of a single IPMC is installed on the silica gel, and the plastic is used as the supporting skeleton to improve the stiffness of the overall driving muscle in the SolidWorks. Moreover, Denavit-Hartenberg (D-H) matrix and kinematic were established for single-leg mechanism. Finally, workspace of single-leg system and torque of joints for hip and knee joints were calculated theoretically, according to the actuation results of single IPMC actuators.