Related papers: Dielectric Elastomer Actuator biased by Magnetorhe…
Electromagnetic relays and solenoid actuators are commonly used for their bistable behavior, which allows for switching between two states in electrical, pneumatic, or hydraulic circuits, among other applications. Although there has been…
Soft electronics are a promising and revolutionary alternative for traditional electronics when safe physical interaction between machines and the human body is required. Among various materials architectures developed for producing soft…
Reluctance actuators are preferred for high-precision applications. Due to resistive losses in the coils, the accuracy of this type of actuator will reduce in quasi-static operation mode within a vacuum environment. By using soft permanent…
Aging populations and the rising prevalence of neurological and musculoskeletal disorders increase the demand for wearable mobility assistive devices that are effective, comfortable, and anatomically compatible. Many existing systems use…
Magnetic-responsive composites that consist of soft matrix embedded with hard-magnetic particles have recently been demonstrated as robust soft active materials for fast-transforming actuation. However, the deformation of the functional…
In this work, a simulation model for the optimal control of dielectric elastomer actuated flexible multibody dynamics systems is presented. The Dielectric Elastomer Actuator (DEA) behaves like a flexible artificial muscles in soft robotics.…
A predicting model for soft Dielectric Elastomer Generators (DEGs) must consider a realistic model of the electromechanical behaviour of the elastomer filling, the variable capacitor and of the electrical circuit connecting all elements of…
Soft elastic composite materials can serve as actuators when they transform changes in external fields into mechanical deformation. Here, we address the corresponding deformational behavior of magnetic gels and elastomers, consisting of…
Active metamaterials are a type of metamaterial with tunable properties enabled by structural reconfigurations. Existing active metamaterials often achieve only a limited number of structural reconfigurations upon the application of an…
In this paper, we present an adjustable-equilibrium parallel elastic actuator (AE-PEA). The actuator consists of a motor, an equilibrium adjusting mechanism, and a spring arranged into a cylindrical geometry, similar to a motor-gearbox…
Robotic systems driven by conventional motors often suffer from challenges such as large mass, complex control algorithms, and the need for additional braking mechanisms, which limit their applications in lightweight and compact robotic…
We propose an extended kinematics of nominally elastic continuum solids allowing one to describe their mechanical interaction with micro-scale loading devices. The main new ingredient is the concept of a micro-displacement tensor which…
Soft elastomers that can exhibit extremely large deformations under the action of an electric field are essential for applications such as soft robotics, stretchable and flexible electronics, energy harvesting among others. The critical…
We study the orientational dynamics of superparamagnetic colloidal dimers that carry both an induced magnetic moment, proportional to the applied field, and an effective permanent moment. In a static, uniform magnetic field, dimers that are…
A novel effect involving the formation of a stable kink-like torsion deformation in a magnetoactive elastomer (MAE) beam subjected to a uniform magnetic field is theoretically predicted and experimentally confirmed. The phenomenon was…
We introduce the concept of magnetoelastic metamaterials with electromagnetic properties depending on elastic deformation. We predict a strong nonlinear and bistable response of such metamaterials caused by their structural reshaping in…
Soft electrothermal actuators are of great interest in diverse application domains for their simplicity, compliance, and ease of control. However, the very nature of thermally induced mechanical actuation sets inherent operation…
This paper presents results about fabrication and operation of electrostatic actuators in liquids with various permittivities. In the static mode, we provide experimental and theoretical demonstration that the pull-in effect can be shifted…
The active reflector is one of the three main innovations of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). The deformation of such a huge spherically shaped reflector into different transient parabolic shapes is achieved…
Wearable and legged robot designers face multiple challenges when choosing actuation. Traditional fully actuated designs using electric motors are multifunctional but oversized and inefficient for bearing conservative loads and for being…