Development of micro inchworm robot actuated by electrostrictive polymer actuator

Sunghwi Cho; Sungmoo Ryew; Jaewook Jeon; Hunmo Kim; Jaedo Nam; Hyoukryeol Choi

doi:10.1117/12.432668

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16 July 2001 Development of micro inchworm robot actuated by electrostrictive polymer actuator

Sunghwi Cho; Sungmoo Ryew; Jaewook Jeon; Hunmo Kim; Jaedo Nam; Hyoukryeol Choi

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Proceedings Volume 4329, Smart Structures and Materials 2001: Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices; (2001) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.432668
Event: SPIE's 8th Annual International Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials, 2001, Newport Beach, CA, United States

Abstract

In previous works, the possibility of the electrostrictive polymer as the actuator use has been proved. In this paper we address an actual design of an actuator and an inchworm type robotic mechanism using the electrostrictive polymer. The robot will be developed to move horizontally, vertically with steering capability, aiming for navigation in small tubular structures such as flexible pipes but now in this stage a simple bellows type robot capable of accomplishing the linear movement like that of an inchworm is introduced. The issues about the mechanism design of the prototype, which has already been developed and under the consideration of reduction in size, are discussed and preliminary results of experiments are given.

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Sunghwi Cho, Sungmoo Ryew, Jaewook Jeon, Hunmo Kim, Jaedo Nam, and Hyoukryeol Choi "Development of micro inchworm robot actuated by electrostrictive polymer actuator", Proc. SPIE 4329, Smart Structures and Materials 2001: Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices, (16 July 2001); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.432668

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