Experimental study of position control with tube-type dielectric elastomer actuator

Recently, dielectric elastomer actuator which can expand as a muscle has been paid more attention. Different from traditional film-type dielectric elastomer actuator, tube-type dielectric elastomer actuator which can deform on uniaxial direction is developed. Since the performance of dielectric elastomer actuator usually depends on its prestrain, actuation of the developed actuator under different prestrains is checked firstly in this research. Secondly, in order to apply the developed actuator as artificial muscle into robot, the basic expansion movement of the developed dielectric elastomer actuator is modeled based on its step response and frequency response experimental data. Then the PI controllers are designed to realize the position control of the tip displacement of the actuator. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by simulation and experimental results.