Ferroelectricity has made a huge impact on science and technology since Joseph Valasek (then a Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota) discovered it in 1920, a little longer than 100 years ago. Whereas Dr. Valasek's original research was motivated by ...
In this work, a highly stretchable silicone elastomer is incorporated into dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) in order to decrease operation voltages by applying high prestretches. Results show that the fabricated DEAs (5 mm diameter circle active regio ...
Recent advances in soft actuators have enabled systems that are safer to interact with, better at handling fragile objects, able to produce complex shapes with fewer components. However, being inherently soft differs these actuators from their rigid counte ...
We present the effect of electric field, temperature, humidity, type of elastomer material, and encapsulation on the lifetime of silicone-based dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) under DC electric fields. DEAs are promising soft actuators, but little ha ...
Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) based actuators have been commonly used in applications that require being compact and lightweight. In this paper, the inherent stiffness of a flexure-based linear guide is used to create a bias-spring SMA actuator which further re ...
A compressed air driven generator is proposed, where the pneumatic energy is converted into mechanical energy using two vane-type rotational actuators. The use of a second actuator with a higher displacement in order to produce a thermodynamic expansion al ...
This paper gives a new formulation to design adaptive structures through total energy optimization (TEO). This methodology enables the design of truss as well as tensegrity configurations that are equipped with linear actuators to counteract the effect of ...
Autonomous soft robots require compact actuators generating large strokes and high forces. Electro-fluidic actuators are especially promising, they combine the advantages of electroactive polymers (low-power consumption, fast response, and electrical power ...
A haptic device is disclosed comprising at least one fluidic actuator operatively connectable with pumping means; and a plurality of movable members mechanically connected with said at least one fluidic actuator, wherein said movable members can perform a ...
