Stretchable Materials for Robust Soft Actuators towards Assistive Wearable Devices.

ABSTRACT: Soft actuators made from elastomeric active materials can find widespread potential implementation in a variety of applications ranging from assistive wearable technologies targeted at biomedical rehabilitation or assistance with activities of daily living, bioinspired and biomimetic systems, to gripping and manipulating fragile objects, and adaptable locomotion. In this manuscript, we propose a novel two-component soft actuator design and design tool that produces actuators targeted towards these applications with enhanced mechanical performance and manufacturability. Our numerical models developed using the finite element method can predict the actuator behavior at large mechanical strains to allow efficient design iterations for system optimization. Based on two distinctive actuator pro

SUBMITTER: Agarwal G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5037455 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature