Control of the stiffness of robotic appendages using dielectric elastomers

A new robotic leg design is presented that utilizes dielectric elastomers (3M VHB 4910) to rapidly control stiffness changes for enhanced mobility and agility of a field demonstrated hexapod robot. It has been shown that stiffness changes of electro-active membranes made of dielectric elastomers can overcome challenges with other polymer materials that use heat to create modulus and stiffness changes. Applied electric fields eliminate issues with thermal transport rates and thermo-mechanical delaminatation. The dielectric elastomer is characterized uniaxially to understand its hyperelastic and viscoelastic properties. The uniaxial data is fit to a hyperelastic and viscoelastic finite deformation model. The material is then pre-stretched biaxially to stretch ratios ranging from 200%, 300% and 400%. A set of electro-mechanical transverse load experiments are then utilized to obtain up to 92% reduction in stiffness that is controlled by an electric field. The results are compared to a finite deformation membrane finite element model to understand and improve field driven stiffness changes for real-time robotic applications.