Soft actuator for robotic applications based on dielectric elastomer: dynamic analysis and applications

Abstract

In this paper a new soft actuator based on dielectric elastomer is proposed. The actuator, called an antagonistically-driven linear actuator (ANTLA), has the muscle-like characteristics capable of performing the motions such as forward/backward/controllable compliance. In this paper, its dynamic analysis is performed with experimental verifications, and applications for robotic actuating devices are introduced.