Design and control of multi-jointed robot finger based on artificial muscle actuator

A new biomimetic actuation system by artificial muscle actuator based on dielectric elastomer is presented in this paper. A novel linear actuator called "multi-stacked actuator" is introduced, which can be embedded in the phalanges of the finger and ensures a compact design of the overall system. The performance of the proposed actuation system is demonstrated using two degree-of-freedom robot finger. A pulse-width-modulation proportional-integral-derivative (PWM-PID) feedback controller based on the discharging circuit is implemented and tested. The proposed system can be extended to the multi-fingered robot hand easily, and applied even for articulated mechanisms such as legged robots etc.