This contribution reviews elastomeric materials with photo-actuation behavior with emphasis on thermoplastic elastomers and their composites. The principles of the photo-actuation and the main factors affecting the photo-actuation phenomena of thermoplastic elastomer materials are discussed in detail. The well-performing photoactuating systems involving both statistical and block copolymers-bas...

This paper presents a process for fabricating diaphragms, suitable for use in micromachined pumps within the field of micro-fluidics. To enable the actuation of a thick-film deposited magnetostrictive material, actuation coils are fabricated onto the non-chamber face of the diaphragms. These actuation coils are fabricated using a multilayer deposition approach compatible with micromachining pro...

As tensegrity research is moving away from static structures toward active structures it is becoming critical that new actuation strategies and comprehensive active structures theories are developed to fully exploit the properties of tensegrity structures. In this paper a new general tensegrity paradigm is presented that incorporates a concept referred to as clustered actuation. Clustered actua...

This paper presents the dynamic analysis and speed control of a novel micro-robotic platform that is able to move with sub-micrometer positioning accuracy at velocities up to 1.5 mm/s. The platform actuation system employs vibration micro-motors. The motion principle is discussed. The dynamic model of the platform and of its actuation system is developed and its operating constraints are analyt...

Last decade witnessed the revival of fluidic soft actuation. As pressure-operated soft robotics becomes more popular with promising recent results, system integration remains an outstanding challenge. Inspired greatly by biology, we envision future robotic systems to embrace mechanical compliance with bodies composed of soft and hard components as well as electronic and sensing sub-systems, suc...

We have developed a CMOS-compatible, in-situ micro-device to measure three important fabrication, material, and actuation parameters characterizing planarprocessed microelectromechanical (MEMS) structures: uniform in-plane overor under-cut (cut error), effective Young’s Modulus, and actuation comb-drive forces. Our only measurements are of voltage and capacitance. The device fits in a 1 mm by 1...

This paper explores a passive control strategy with variable stiffness actuation for swing movements. We consider brachiation as an example of a highly dynamic task which requires exploitation of gravity in an efficient manner for successful task execution. First, we present our passive control strategy considering a pendulum with variable stiffness actuation. Then, we formulate the problem bas...

In this paper, a physics-based model is proposed for a biomimetic robotic fish propelled by an ionic polymer–metal composite (IPMC) actuator. Inspired by the biological fin structure, a passive plastic fin is further attached to the IPMC beam. The model incorporates both IPMC actuation dynamics and the hydrodynamics, and predicts the steady-state cruising speed of the robot under a given period...