Electroactive polymers as soft robotic actuators: electromechanical modeling and identification

Biologically inspired robotic applications have

recently received significant attention due to developments in

novel materials and actuators with an operation principle

similar to the natural muscles’. Electroactive polymer (EAP)

actuators, also known as artificial muscles, possess

extraordinary properties such as low efficiency consumption,

compliance, bio-compatibility and ability to be miniaturized.

Although several methodologies have been proposed for

modeling and identification of their quasi-static bending

behavior, a negligibly small attention has been given to their

dynamic behavior. In this paper, we, therefore, report on their

electromechanical modeling and parameter identification. We

model the tri-layer EAP actuators as a soft robotic actuator

consisting of a significant number of rigid links connected with

compliant revolute joints. The experimental and numerical

results presented suggest that the soft robotics approach is an

effective way to model the EAP actuator and subsequently

identify its dynamic parameters accurately. We have previously

employed the same soft robotic approach to estimate the whole

shape of the EAP actuator as a function of time.