U-turning an agile robotic cube by a soft dielectric elastomer resonator

Abstract

Small robot is favorable in diverse application. Dielectric elastomer is soft active material, offering new insight in robotic actuation. This paper describes a lightweight robotic cube driven by a dielectric elastomer resonator (DER). The vibration performance of the DER is experimentally studied and characterized for a fast speed actuation in robotic cube. This robotic cube has an excellent athletic ability. Firstly, without wheel, leg or track, it can locomote rectilinearly at the first mode resonance frequency of DER, with the speed of 0.78 body length per second. Secondly, the robotic cube can change its direction (U-turn) at the second mode resonance frequency of DER. The robotic cube favors simplicity in manufacture and multi-mode locomotion integration controlled by a single actuator at its voltage change.