NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Artificial Muscles Based on Electroactive Polymers as an Enabling Tool in BiomimeticsEvolution has resolved many of nature's challenges leading to working and lasting solutions that employ principles of physics, chemistry, mechanical engineering, materials science, and many other fields of science and engineering. Nature's inventions have always inspired human achievements leading to effective materials, structures, tools, mechanisms, processes, algorithms, methods, systems, and many other benefits. Some of the technologies that have emerged include artificial intelligence, artificial vision, and artificial muscles, where the latter is the moniker for electroactive polymers (EAPs). To take advantage of these materials and make them practical actuators, efforts are made worldwide to develop capabilities that are critical to the field infrastructure. Researchers are developing analytical model and comprehensive understanding of EAP materials response mechanism as well as effective processing and characterization techniques. The field is still in its emerging state and robust materials are still not readily available; however, in recent years, significant progress has been made and commercial products have already started to appear. In the current paper, the state-of-the-art and challenges to artificial muscles as well as their potential application to biomimetic mechanisms and devices are described and discussed.
Document ID
20080032386
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Bar-Cohen, Y.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
October 1, 2007
Publication Information
Publication: Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part C-Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science
Publisher: Professional Engineering Publishing
Volume: 221
Issue: 10
Subject Category
Cybernetics, Artificial Intelligence And Robotics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
electroactive polymers
biologically inspired technologies
artificial muscles
biomimetics
robotics

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available