Plastic muscles could power the next generation of collaborative robots
Researchers have developed lightweight artificial muscles from conducting polymers that respond to electrical signals, operating silently at low voltage. The breakthrough addresses a critical bottleneck in human-robot collaboration: finding actuators that are safe, quiet, and energy-efficient enough for workers to operate alongside machines without risk or fatigue.
Originaltitel: Soft linear electroactive polymer actuators based on polypyrrole
<p>There is a growing demand for human-friendly robots that can interact and work closely with humans. Such robots need to be compliant, lightweight and equipped with silent and soft actuators. Electroactive polymers such as conducting polymers (CPs) are “smart” materials that deform in response to electrical simulation and are often addressed as artificial muscles due to their functional similarity with natural muscles. They offer unique possibilities and are perfect candidates for such actuators since they are lightweight, silent, and driven at low voltages. Most CP actuators are fabricated using electrochemical oxidative synthesis. We have developed new CP based fibres employing both vapour phase and liquid phase electrochemical synthesis. We will present the fabrication and characterisation of these fibres as well as their performance as linear actuators.</p>