Science Daily March 15, 2023
Although robots driven by rigid actuators have demonstrated agile locomotion and manipulation, most of them lack animal-like robustness against unexpected damage. Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs), a class of muscle-like soft transducers, have enabled nimble aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic robotic locomotion. However, unlike muscles, DEAs suffer local dielectric breakdowns that often cause global device failure. Researchers at MIT developed DEAs that can endure more than 100 punctures while maintaining high bandwidth and power density sufficient for supporting energetically expensive locomotion such as flight. They fabricated electroluminescent DEAs for visualizing electrode connectivity under actuator damage. When the DEA suffered severe dielectric breakdowns that caused device failure, a laser-assisted repair method for isolating the critical defects and recovering performance was demonstrated. These results culminate in an aerial robot that can endure critical actuator and wing damage while maintaining similar accuracy in hovering flight. According to the researchers their work highlights that soft robotic systems can embody animal-like agility and resilience… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
…resilient artificial muscles that can enable insect-scale aerial robots to effectively recover flight performance.Credits: The researchers