For many years, electroactive ceramic, magnetostrictive material and shape memory alloys have been the primary source of actuation materials for manipulation and mobility systems. Electroactive polymers (EAPs) received relatively little attention due to their limited capability. However, effective EAP materials have emerged, changing the paradigm of these materials' capability and potential. Their main attractive characteristic is the operation similarity to biological muscles, where under electrical excitation a large displacement is induced. The potential to operate biologically inspired...
For many years, electroactive ceramic, magnetostrictive material and shape memory alloys have been the primary source of actuation materials for manip...