Development of an amphibious robotic propulsor based on electroactive polymers

This paper presents the project of a robotic device for propulsion in aquatic environment. The propulsor is a biologically inspired system characterized by efficiency and flexibility for locomotion environment changing: the legs of anuran amphibious. These animals are exceptionally adapted to locomo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in2009 4th International Conference on Autonomous Robots and Agents pp. 284 - 289
Main Authors Hirano, L.A., Martins-Filho, L.S., Duarte, R.O., de Paiva, J.F.
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 01.02.2009
Subjects
Actuators
Animals
aquatic propulsor
artificial muscles
Biological systems
electroactive polymers
Leg
Mechatronics
Mobile robots
Muscles
Polymers
Propulsion
Prototypes
robotics
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Summary:This paper presents the project of a robotic device for propulsion in aquatic environment. The propulsor is a biologically inspired system characterized by efficiency and flexibility for locomotion environment changing: the legs of anuran amphibious. These animals are exceptionally adapted to locomotion in water and land. This type of locomotion requires specific features of the mechanisms that are hardly provided by traditional solutions based on standard electric motors. The proposed approach is based on ionomeric polymers-metal composites drives, constituting a system commonly called artificial muscle. The paper presents the anuran locomotion modeling, a description of the electroactive polymers, the experimental production procedures and results, and also discusses some constructive aspects of a first device prototype.
ISBN:9781424427123
1424427126
DOI:10.1109/ICARA.2000.4803946