Design and Implementation of an Ionic-Polymer-Metal-Composite Aquatic Biomimetic Robot

Author(s):  
Yi-chu Chang ◽  
Won-jong Kim

Smart materials have been used in various applications. In this paper, a walking robot with six two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) legs made of ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) is designed and implemented. Each leg can work as both a supporter and a driver, closely mimicking a real insect. To support and drive the robot, thicker (around 1 mm in thickness) IPMC strips were fabricated and used, and a 0.2-rad/s square wave is given as an input signal. The IPMC strips exhibit better performance in response to the square wave (8 mm) than sawtooth (4 mm) and sinusoidal (6 mm) waves in deflection. By applying this input signal in sequence, all the IPMC strips bend and walk in the form of six legs. In addition, thin magnet wires were used to supply power to each strip to prevent from confining the motion of our robot. Six lower legs are divided into two groups that work in the opposite directions to move the robot forward by turns. Upper legs are also divided into two groups to lift up their lower legs from making the robot to move back to the same place. The sizes of the IPMC strips and our robot (102 mm × 80 mm × 43 mm) were decided to exhibit better performance (0.5 mm/s) according to our tests.

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (17) ◽  
pp. 1973-1985
Author(s):  
Hojat Zamyad ◽  
Nadia Naghavi ◽  
Reza Godaz ◽  
Reza Monsefi

The high application potential of ionic polymer–metal composites has made the behavior identification of this group of smart materials an attractive area. So far, several models have been proposed to predict the bending of an ionic polymer–metal composite actuator, but these models have some weaknesses, the most important of them are the use of output data (in autoregressive models), high complexity to achieve a proper precision (in non-autoregressive models), and lack of compatibility with the behavioral nature of the material. In this article, we present a hybrid model of parallel non-autoregressive recurrent networks with internal memory cells to overcome existing weaknesses. The validation results on experimental data show that the proposed model has acceptable accuracy and flexibility. Moreover, simplicity and compatibility with the behavioral nature of the material promote using the proposed model in practical applications.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Tien Nguyen ◽  
Seong Young Ko ◽  
Jong-Oh Park ◽  
Sukho Park

This paper presents a design and fabrication of millimeter scale walking robot using ionic polymer–metal composite (IPMC) actuator as the robot's leg for walking in terrestrial environment. A small scale of new IPMC actuator based on poly-vinylidene fluoride (PVDF)/polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP)/polystyrene sulfuric acid (PSSA) blend membrane was fabricated and employed in this study to sustain and drive the walking robot with sufficient force and displacement. The PVDF/PVP/PSSA based IPMC actuator with a polymer mixture ratio of 15/30/55 shows improved performances than Nafion based IPMC actuator. To enhance a traction force of the walking robot and to increase the life time of IPMC actuators, the IPMC strips are covered with a thin PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) layer. A miniaturized terrestrial walking robot (size: 18 × 11 × 12 mm, weight: 1.3 g) with a light weight robot's body which can support 2-, 4-, or 6-IPMC-leg models was designed and implemented the walking motion on the ground at the maximum speed of 0.58 mm/s.


2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (14) ◽  
pp. 2863-2873 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakub Bernat ◽  
Jakub Kolota

Ionic polymer–metal composites are classified as a smart materials group, whose properties can be designed depending on the needs that arise. Ionic polymer–metal composites belong to the class of wet electroactive polymers. They are promising candidates actuator for various potential applications mainly due to their flexible, low voltage requirements, compact design, and lack of moving parts. However, being a widely used material in industry, ionic polymer–metal composite requires complex control methods due to its strongly nonlinear nature. An important prerequisite for an intelligent controller is the ability to adapt rapidly to any unknown operating environment. This article presents a novel approach to tuning multiple models of an online identifier by integral mapping. Through the extension of the estimation law of additional mapping between parameters and measurable signals, we significantly improve transient responses without increasing feedback gain. The authors measured the moisture content of ionic polymer–metal composite and consider in the experiment relationship between drying and varying of curvature output. The effectiveness of the proposed multiple models adaptive control strategy was verified in various experiments. The results of the study illustrated in the experiments show that adding new mapping improves not only the transients of controlled plant, but also increases the performance indexes of adaptive system.


2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Luqman ◽  
Jang-Woo Lee ◽  
Kwang-Kil Moon ◽  
Young-Tai Yoo

Author(s):  
Muhammad Farid ◽  
Zhao Gang ◽  
Tran Linh Khuong ◽  
Zhuang Zhi Sun ◽  
Naveed Ur Rehman ◽  
...  

Biomimetic is the field of engineering in which biological creatures and their functions are investigated and are used as the basis for the design and manufacturing of machines. Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (IPMC) is a smart material which has demonstrated a meaningful bending and tip force after the application of a low voltage. It is light-weighted, flexible, easily actuated, multi-directional applicable and requires simple manufacturing. Resultantly, IPMC has attracted scientists and researchers to analyze it further and consider it for any industrial and biomimetic applications. Presently, the research on IPMC is bi-directional oriented. A few groups of researchers are busy to find out the causes for the weaknesses of the material and to find out any remedy for them. The second class of scientists is exploring new areas of applications where IPMC material can be used. Although, the application zone of IPMC is ranging from micropumps diaphragms to surgical holding devices, this paper provides an overview of the IPMC application in biomimetic and biomedical field.


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