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DEVELOPMENT OF DIELECTRIC ELASTOMER ARTIFICIAL MUSCLE FOR USE AS A HUMAN ASSISTIVE DEVICE

Abstract

Ryan Z. Amick1, Zheng Chen2, Kim Cluff3, Ramazan Asmatulu4, Jeremy A. Patterson, FACSM1

1Dept. of Human Performance Studies, Wichita State University

2Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Wichita State University

3Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, Wichita State University

4Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Wichita State University

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to develop new dielectric elastomer (DE) artificial muscle to meet requirements for use as a human assistive device including biocompatibility, achievable stress and strain, and power consumption. METHODS: We develop an artificial muscle structure using DE as a soft actuator to simulate muscle with carbon nanofibers embedded to simulate a tendon structure. A contractile force is generated when an electrical voltage is applied to the DE material through the conductive tendons. The DE material was stretched across a frame and the electrical current applied. RESULTS: Preliminary experimental results show that, when loaded with a 100 gram weight, the DE artificial muscle structure can achieve up to 2% strain output. Power consumption of the DE muscle was less than 100 mW. CONCLUSION: DE artificial muscle has built in sensing and actuation capability and can provide compliant actuation with low power consumption requirements. The DE artificial muscle has significant potential as a human assistive device.

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