Abstract
The use of Electro-Active Polymers (EAPs) for the fabrication of evermore sophisticated miniaturised soft robotic actuators has seen an impressive development in recent years. This paper unveils the latest computational developments of the group related to three significant challenges presented in the in-silico modelling of EAPs, that are being explored with our in-house computational platform. These challenges, unique to the simulation of EAPs, include (i) robustly resolving the onset of potentially massive strains as a result of the significant flexibility of EAP components for soft robotics; (ii) accurately capturing the properties of multi-phased composites at a micro-scale within the macroscopic fields used in well-established computational modelling approaches (i.e. Finite Element Method); and (iii) optimising the electrode meso-architecture to enable device customisation for specific application required deformations. This paper also aims to demonstrate the in-silico design tools capability, robustness and flexibility, provided through a comprehensive set of numerical examples, including some novel results in electrode and EAP multi-material optimisation. With the upcoming addition of a 3D Direct-Ink-Writer (DIW) printer, the authors aim to close the loop allowing for in-house device design and optimisation, simulation and analysis as well as fabrication and testing.
The first and fourth authors acknowledge the financial support received from the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.
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Gil, A.J., Ortigosa, R., Martínez-Frutos, J., Ellmer, N. (2022). In-silico Design and Computational Modelling of Electroactive Polymer Based Soft Robotics. In: Pacheco-Gutierrez, S., Cryer, A., Caliskanelli, I., Tugal, H., Skilton, R. (eds) Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems. TAROS 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 13546. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15908-4_7
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