Development of bio-inspired walking microrobot using PVDF/PVP/PSSA-based IPMC actuator

Author

Nguyen Kim Tien ; Doyeon Hwang ; Sunyong Jung ; Seong Young Ko ; Jong-Oh Park ; Sukho Park

Author_Institution

Grad. Sch., Dept. of Mech. Eng., Chonnam Nat. Univ., Gwangju, South Korea

fYear

2014

fDate

3-6 Aug. 2014

Firstpage

49

Lastpage

54

Abstract

Ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) is used in many bio-inspired aquatic systems due to its special characteristics of wet electro-active polymer (EAP). This paper proposes an IPMC actuator using poly-vinylidene fluoride (PVDF)/polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP)/polystyrene sulfuric acid (PSSA) blend membrane and explains a bio-inspired walking microrobot using the proposed IPMCs as actuators. The proposed IPMC actuator was fabricated using a PVDF/PVP/PSSA solution with the mixture ratio of 30/15/55. It could generate higher tip displacement and blocking force at low DC voltages compared with Nafion-based IPMC actuator. The PVDF/PVP/PSSA-based IPMC actuators were employed for our bio-inspired walking microrobot. Finally, the bio-inspired terrestrial walking microrobot has the weight of 1.3g and can demonstrate a walking motion with a speed of 0.55mm/s on the 0.2 coefficient of friction surface.

Keywords

electroactive polymer actuators; legged locomotion; microrobots; robot dynamics; EAP; IPMC actuator; Nafion-based IPMC actuator; PSSA; PVDF; PVP; bioinspired aquatic system; bioinspired walking microrobot; ionic polymer-metal composite; polystyrene sulfuric acid blend membrane; polyvinyl pyrrolidone; polyvinylidene fluoride; wet electro-active polymer; Actuators; Biomembranes; Electrodes; Force; Legged locomotion; Polymers; biomimetic robot; ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC); smart material actuator; walking robot;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Mechatronics and Automation (ICMA), 2014 IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

Tianjin

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-3978-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICMA.2014.6885670

Filename

6885670