Modeling and simulation of a new bioinspired muscle actuator

In this paper a new linear bioinspired actuator is developed. This actuator is made to mimic the biological muscle´s structure and function. Ionic polymer metal composites (IPMC) smart material is used to emulate the motion of the cross-bridges of biological muscle. A dynamic model of the proposed actuator is developed using the wave propagation technique. Modeling and simulation of the bioinspired actuator shows that one muscle unit actuator produces a maximum force of 0.12 N, axial displacement of 4 mm in each step, and a maximum axial displacement of about 30% of total muscle unit length. Sixteen IPMC sets are used; each set contains three IPMC segments connected in series. The length, width and height of each segment are 16mm, 10mm, 0.2 mm respectively. The total muscle unit length and diameter are 120 mm and 70 mm respectively.