TY - JOUR
T1 - Concept and prototype of soft actuator for liquid nitrogen temperature environments
AU - Yamaguchi, Daisuke
AU - Hanaki, Tatsuya
AU - Ishino, Yuji
AU - Hara, Masayuki
AU - Takasaki, Masaya
AU - Mizuno, Takeshi
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported in part by the Fluid Power Technology Promotion Foundation, JSPS KAKENHI (grant number 15K20908), and JKA (its promotion funds from AUTORACE).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Fuji Technology Press. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - A prototype of a soft actuator for extreme environments was fabricated, and driven in a cryogenic temperature environment. Previous soft actuators cannot be used for robots in extreme environments because resin, the main fabrication material, exhibits weak environmental characteristics. Therefore, this study proposes the application of polyimide (PI) films to soft ac-tuators. PI is characterized by excellent environmental resistance. However, the welding of PI is difficult because of its high resistance. In this study, a welding method was developed for PI films. This method does not require pretreatment, or the use of adhesives or additives to reduce resistance. Hence, an actuator that utilizes all the characteristics of PI was realized. The actuator was characterized in a cryogenic envi-ronment, which is one of the extreme environments, and was successfully driven at a liquid nitrogen temperature of 78 K. This proposed technology is not limited to cryogenic environments and is expected to pro-vide extreme environmental resistance to existing soft robots.
AB - A prototype of a soft actuator for extreme environments was fabricated, and driven in a cryogenic temperature environment. Previous soft actuators cannot be used for robots in extreme environments because resin, the main fabrication material, exhibits weak environmental characteristics. Therefore, this study proposes the application of polyimide (PI) films to soft ac-tuators. PI is characterized by excellent environmental resistance. However, the welding of PI is difficult because of its high resistance. In this study, a welding method was developed for PI films. This method does not require pretreatment, or the use of adhesives or additives to reduce resistance. Hence, an actuator that utilizes all the characteristics of PI was realized. The actuator was characterized in a cryogenic envi-ronment, which is one of the extreme environments, and was successfully driven at a liquid nitrogen temperature of 78 K. This proposed technology is not limited to cryogenic environments and is expected to pro-vide extreme environmental resistance to existing soft robots.
KW - Extreme envi-ronment
KW - Filmotics
KW - Low temperature
KW - Polyimide
KW - Soft robotics
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U2 - 10.20965/jrm.2020.p1019
DO - 10.20965/jrm.2020.p1019
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85093969105
SN - 0915-3942
VL - 32
SP - 1019
EP - 1026
JO - Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics
JF - Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics
IS - 5
ER -