Wireless Soft Actuator Based on Liquid-Gas Phase Transition Controlled by Millimeter-Wave Irradiation

We propose a wireless soft actuator controlled thermally by millimeter-wave irradiation. The actuator is composed of low boiling point liquid sealed in a soft bellows. By irradiating high-power millimeter-waves, the liquid can be evaporated to generate a strong mechanical force. We characterize the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIEEE robotics and automation letters Vol. 5; no. 4; p. 1
Main Authors Ueno, Soichiro, Monnai, Yasuaki
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Piscataway IEEE 01.10.2020
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subjects
Actuation
Actuators
Bellows
Boiling points
Dynamic response
Force
force control
gas-liquid phase transition
Heating systems
Irradiation
Liquids
low boiling point liquid
Magnetic liquids
Millimeter wave technology
Millimeter waves
Phase transitions
Soft robot applications
Vapor phases
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Summary:We propose a wireless soft actuator controlled thermally by millimeter-wave irradiation. The actuator is composed of low boiling point liquid sealed in a soft bellows. By irradiating high-power millimeter-waves, the liquid can be evaporated to generate a strong mechanical force. We characterize the force and work extracted from the bellows as a function of the liquid volume and temperature. We then demonstrate the wireless actuation by irradiating a millimeter-wave on the bellows. We also evaluate its dynamic response by modulating the millimeter-wave. Our approach provides novel usage and design space of soft actuators.
ISSN:2377-3766
2377-3766
DOI:10.1109/LRA.2020.3013847