Small System HASEL Actuators for Repeated Robotic Manipulation

Project Objective

Create actuators on the millimeter scale to create more refined motion for humanoid robotic devices.
Use durable soft materials to replace the bulky, rigid actuators.
Use HASEL actuators (developed by the Keplinger Group), to build small actuators that could be used to alter facial expressions and minute hand movements [1-3].

Methodology

Using the principles of the HASEL actuators, small actuators of two types were designed:
- The dimensions of the linear actuator will be 1 cm by 1 cm and then later changed to 2 cm by 2 cm.
- The dimensions of the curling actuator will be 1 cm by 3 cm.
Both actuators were fabricated using a flexible Biaxially-Oriented Polypropylene (BOPP) film to contain the dielectric fluid and mineral oil as dielectric fluid.
Two types of flexible electrodes were tested: carbon tape and carbon grease.
- For the carbon tape electrodes, two different electrode tape geometries were used.

References

[1] Shane K. Mitchell, Xingrui Wang, Eric Acome, Trent Martin, Khoi Ly, Nicholas Kellaris, Christoph Keplinger, "Rapid prototyping zipping HASEL actuators for high-speed and versatile artificial muscles (Conference Presentation)," Proc. SPIE 10966, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) XXI, 1096609 (29 March 2019)

[2] Acome, E., Mitchell, S. K., Morrissey, T. G., Emmett, M. B., Benjamin, C., King, M., … Keplinger, C. (2018). Hydraulically amplified self-healing electrostatic actuators with muscle-like performance. Science, 359(6371), 61–65. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao6139

[3] Kellaris, N., Venkata, V. G., Smith, G. M., Mitchell, S. K., & Keplinger, C. (2018). Peano-HASEL actuators: Muscle-mimetic, electrohydraulic transducers that linearly contract on activation. Science Robotics, 3(14), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.aar3276