Fabrication and control of rectilinear artificial muscle actuator

In this paper, we present an artificial muscle actuator based on a dielectric elastomer called the "multistacked actuator". The actuator is made from a new material, the synthetic elastomer, developed by the authors. The proposed actuator is configured with multiple stacked synthetic elastomer films coated with compliant electrodes on both sides. This design enables the actuator to generate rectilinear motion with high force density. In addition, the actuators can be fabricated in various geometries to meet the requirements of the applications. We develop a pulsewidth-modulated proportional-integral- derivative (PWM-PID) feedback controller based on the high-voltage switching circuit and implemented it to drive the proposed actuator. Finally, the performance of the actuator is evaluated via experiments.