An ionic polymer-metal composite ~IPMC! consisting of a thin Nafion sheet, platinum plated on both faces, undergoes large bending motion when an electric field is applied across its thickness. Conversely, a voltage is produced across its faces when it is suddenly bent. A micromechanical model is developed which accounts for the coupled ion transport, electric field, and elastic deformation to p...

Ionomeric Polymer-Metal Composites (IPMC) are attractive type of electroactive polymer actuation materials because of their characteristics of large electrically induced bending, mechanical flexibility, low excitation voltage, low density, and ease of fabrication. The diffusion of ions between the electrodes causes the material to bend. The unique features of the IPMC materials and their need f...

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS We report on a 75-year-old man who was admitted due to pancreatic cystic lesion accompanied by a solid mass with liver metastasis. Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) was performed on the solid mass, and pathological findings revealed the lesion to be an adenocarcinoma diagnosed as intraductal papillary mucinous carcinoma (IPMC). Approximately...

Autonomous under robots are highly demanded in environmental monitoring, intelligent collection, and deep water exploration. Aquatic animals (e.g., fishes, whales, rays, etc.) are ultimate examples of superior swimmers as a result of millions of years of evolution, endowed with a variety of morphological and structural features for moving through water with speed, agility, and efficiency. Recen...

Ionic polymer–metal composites (IPMCs) are one type of wet electroactive polymers that show promising actuating properties in many bio-inspiring underwater robotic applications. In these applications, 3-dimensional kinematic motions are desirable to generate high efficient thrust and maneuverability. However, traditional IPMCs are limited in being only able to generate bending motion. In this p...

Conventional camera modules with image sensors manipulate the focus or zoom by moving lenses. Although motors, such as voice-coil motors, can move the lens sets precisely, large volume, high power consumption, and long moving time are critical issues for motor-type camera modules. A deformable mirror (DM) provides a good opportunity to improve these issues. The DM is a reflective type optical c...

Purpose – To seek to produce low-voltage, soft mechanical actuators entirely via freeform fabrication as part of a larger effort to freeform fabricate complete electromechanical devices with lifelike and/or biocompatible geometry and function. Design/methodology/approach – The authors selected ionomeric polymer-metal composite (IPMC) actuators from the literature and the authors’ own preliminar...

Hand exoskeletons have been developed in order to assist daily activities for disabled and elder people. A figure exoskeleton was developed using ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) actuators, and the performance of it was evaluated in this study. In order to study dynamic performance of a finger dummy performing pinching motion, force generating characteristics of an IPMC actuator and pinchin...

Ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) exhibit humidity-dependent sensing behavior when operating in air, which weakens the reliability of the IPMC sensors. To better understand the underlying physics of this behavior and capture the humiditydependence analytically, in this paper the influence of the ambient humidity on IPMC sensors is characterized and modeled from a physical perspective. In p...

In this paper, the infinite-dimensional port-Hamiltonian modelling and control problem of a flexible beam actuated using ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) actuators is investigated. The framework used to propose an interconnected model mechanical IPMC actuator. dynamic modelled as Timoshenko beam, electric dynamics IPMCs are considered in model. Furthermore, passivity-based control-strategy ...