Application of Artificial Muscles as Actuators in Engineering Design

A new actuator technology based on ‘artificial muscle’ concept has emerged recently. Artificial muscles refer to a class of materials that can mimic part of properties found in human muscles. They have the potential to replace traditional actuators, e.g. electric motors in many applications. One example can be robot arm design for service robots. Utilization of artificial muscles to replace electric motor actuators can dramatically reduce the weight and noise, and have the possibility of significantly reducing the complexity of control. To apply them as actuators, it is important to investigate dynamic characteristics of the artificial muscles to be used in designing a system with requirements of dynamic behaviors. This paper attempts to measure several important dynamic characteristics of one type of artificial muscle — Electro Active Polymer (EAP). As a case study, a two level robot arm is designed and built up, with a closed loop control system actuated by the EAP being investigated.