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Actuators
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Soft Actuators for Artificial Muscles
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Soft Actuators for Artificial Muscles

A special issue of Actuators (ISSN 2076-0825). This special issue belongs to the section "Actuators for Robotics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2022) | Viewed by 11969

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Alexander Hošovský

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Guest Editor
Faculty of Manufacturing Technologies with seat in Prešov, Technical University of Košice, Košice, Slovakia
Interests: soft actuators and soft robotics; computational intelligence; automatic control; system identification; bio-inspired computational methods; optimization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Silvia Elizabeth Rodrigo

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Guest Editor
Faculty of Engineering, National University of San Juan, San Juan, Argentina
Interests: neurorehabilitation technology; neuroplasticity; soft actuators and soft robotics; computational intelligence; bio-inspired computational methods
Dr. Amir Jafari

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Guest Editor
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Texas, Discovery Park, 3940 N Elm St, Denton, TX 76207, USA
Interests: physical human–robot interaction; compliant/variable compliance mechanisms; rehabilitation robotics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Nafiseh Ebrahimi

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Guest Editor
Graduate Research Assistant, Advanced Robotic Manipulators (ARM) lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at San Antonio UTSA, One Circle, San Antonio, TX, USA
Interests: soft robotics; rehabilitation robotics; human–robot interaction; mechatronics and biomechanics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With expanding interest in soft robotics as a human-safe counterpart of traditional industrial robotics, the field of soft actuators working as artificial muscles to actuate these machines has been subject to intense research in the last two decades. The range of actuators capable of mechanical response to various kinds of stimuli has become extensive, covering the vast spectrum of interesting properties utilizable in soft robotics applications. However, many challenges remain (or are created) when trying to design useful machines actuated by this type of soft structure.

This Special Issue aims to attract papers devoted to any aspect of artificial muscle (AM)-related research, ranging from their design as well as the design of AM-actuated mechanisms to their modeling and/or control, including pneumatic soft actuators (fluidic muscles, PAMs), polymeric actuators (DEAs and IPMC), shape memory alloys, stimuli-responsive gels, magnetostrictive actuators, and more.

Dr. Alexander Hošovský
Prof. Dr. Silvia Elizabeth Rodrigo,
Dr. Amir Jafari
Dr. Nafiseh Ebrahimi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Actuators is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Pneumatic soft actuators
  • Electroactive polymer actuators
  • Thermally activated shape memory actuators
  • Stimuli-responsive gels
  • Magnetostrictive actuators
  • Carbon nanotubes
  • Magnetic soft actuators
  • Modeling and intelligent control
  • Design of soft actuators and soft robots
  • Design and control optimization

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 11281 KiB  
Article
Reversible Torsional Actuation of Hydrogel Filled Multifilament Fibre Actuator
by Xi Zhang, Jinxuan Zhang, Bidita Salahuddin, Shuai Gao, Shazed Aziz and Zhonghua Zhu
Actuators 2021, 10(9), 244; https://doi.org/10.3390/act10090244 - 21 Sep 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2265
Abstract
Twisted polymer fibre actuators provide high torsional rotation from stimulated volume expansion, induced either by chemical fuelling, thermal stimulation, or electrochemical charging. One key limitation of these actuators is the irreversibility of torsional stroke that limits their feasibility when considering real-life smart applications. [...] Read more.
Twisted polymer fibre actuators provide high torsional rotation from stimulated volume expansion, induced either by chemical fuelling, thermal stimulation, or electrochemical charging. One key limitation of these actuators is the irreversibility of torsional stroke that limits their feasibility when considering real-life smart applications. Moreover, scaling the torsional stroke of these actuators becomes difficult when these are integrated into practically usable systems such as smart textiles, due to the external and variable opposing torque that is applied by the adjacent non-actuating fibres. Herein, a simple composite type torsional actuator made of hydrogel coated commercial textile cotton multifilament fibre is demonstrated. This novel actuator is of high moisture responsiveness, given that hydrogels are capable of providing huge volume expansion and twisting the overall system can transform the volumetric expansion to fibre untwisting based torsional actuation. Theoretical treatment of torsional actuation is also demonstrated based on the change in torsional stiffness of dry and wet fibres as well as a few externally applied torques. The agreement between experimental measurements and theoretical estimation is found reasonable, and the investigation allows the near-appropriate estimation of torsional stroke before integrating an actuator into a smart system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soft Actuators for Artificial Muscles)
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26 pages, 12528 KiB  
Article
Towards Essential Hand Tremor Suppression via Pneumatic Artificial Muscles
by Vasileios Skaramagkas, George Andrikopoulos and Stamatis Manesis
Actuators 2021, 10(9), 206; https://doi.org/10.3390/act10090206 - 26 Aug 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2975
Abstract
Essential tremor (ET) is one of the most common movement disorders and can occur unexpectedly and develop indefinitely to any population unit. According to the recorded statistics of people suffering from ET, the disorder affects 5% of people worldwide, thus creating an ever-increasing [...] Read more.
Essential tremor (ET) is one of the most common movement disorders and can occur unexpectedly and develop indefinitely to any population unit. According to the recorded statistics of people suffering from ET, the disorder affects 5% of people worldwide, thus creating an ever-increasing need to investigate ways for its suppression and treatment. In this article, we investigate the capability of Pneumatic Artificial Muscles (PAMs) to reduce or even suppress ET leading to the relief of the sufferers. In our work, we designed and constructed two iterations of a glovelike setup and attempted to explore the possibility of suppressing ET on different parts of the hand by exerting force on the index finger and metacarpal region. For both glove iterations, we established an experimental protocol based on the adjustment of a force controller. Finally, we evaluated exhaustively the performance of our setup under multiple motion scenarios with the participation of an ET-diagnosed volunteer. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soft Actuators for Artificial Muscles)
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20 pages, 46135 KiB  
Article
Implementation of the Biological Muscle Mechanism in HASEL Actuators to Leverage Electrohydraulic Principles and Create New Geometries
by Levi Tynan, Ganesh Naik, Gaetano D. Gargiulo and Upul Gunawardana
Actuators 2021, 10(2), 38; https://doi.org/10.3390/act10020038 - 19 Feb 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 5127
Abstract
Biomimicry is a field of research that uses the functional and structural components of nature, at macroscopic and microscopic scales, to inspire solutions to problems in our industrial world. Soft robotics is an area of research that uses biomimicry, in this case, mimicking [...] Read more.
Biomimicry is a field of research that uses the functional and structural components of nature, at macroscopic and microscopic scales, to inspire solutions to problems in our industrial world. Soft robotics is an area of research that uses biomimicry, in this case, mimicking skeletal muscles (referred to in this field as “muscle-mimicking actuators”, to perform task of high difficulty, that can be operated in a harmlessly in different environments. One of the most recent advancements to develop from this field is the “Hydraulically amplified self-healing electrostatics (HASEL) actuator”. However, this method also brings many of the issues associated with the geometry of its design, especially with respect to the efficiency of the system. Though this system mimics the functionality of the skeletal muscle, there is room to adjust the existing electrostatic mechanisms, that distribute the locally produced force, to mimic the structure of the mechanism that distributes the force to the skeletal muscular, which is also locally produced. In this paper, we show that the current electrostatic parallel electrodes, as well as the zipping mechanisms, can be replaced with the sliding mechanism. This eliminates issues associated with compartmentalizing of the primary electrostatic force and the secondary hydraulic forces leading to a more efficient and controlled transmission electrostatic and hydrostatic forces to the load compared to current iterations and their geometric components. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Soft Actuators for Artificial Muscles)
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