IPMC Monolithic Thin Film Robots Fabricated Through a Multi-Layer Casting Process

In this letter, we report on a multi-layer casting process of an ionic polymer metal composite actuator to produce a monolithic thin film robot (MTFR). This robot is developed on the basis of the novel concept of a soft robot, which consists of a body united with actuators and does not require mechanical and electrical assembly process. An MTFR is made from only one thin film that involves membranes of a variety of thicknesses. The thick parts of the membrane function as bone structures, and the thin parts as actuators. This integral multi-function structure of the MTFR realizes an assembly-less manufacturing process. To produce the monolithic film with a distributed thickness,we propose the use of a multi-layer casting process. To demonstrate the potential of an MTFR for use in a biomimetic application, we manufactured butterfly- and anomalocaris-like MTFRs. Both the robots can be controlled by applying periodic voltage signals from only one electrode, and each actuator can be driven separately by utilizing the resonance phenomena.