Development of a Thin Dielectric Elastomer Actuator with 3DOFs

Recently, soft robots have attracted more attention. In order to drive them, soft actuators have been employed instead of classical actuators. Among soft actuators, dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are particularly superior in that they have a simple structure, light weight, and high energy efficiency. Therefore, DEAs are considered to be applicable into soft robots and to make robots compact and light. In this study, a thin dielectric elastomer actuator with three degrees of freedom is developed, and its performance is confirmed by experiments. The experimental results show the practicability of the developed thin DEA.