Soft Dielectric Elastomer Oscillators Driving Bioinspired Robots.

Entirely soft robots with animal-like behavior and integrated artificial nervous systems will open up totally new perspectives and applications. To produce them, we must integrate control and actuation in the same soft structure. Soft actuators (e.

Fabrication Process of Silicone-based Dielectric Elastomer Actuators.

This contribution demonstrates the fabrication process of dielectric elastomer transducers (DETs). DETs are stretchable capacitors consisting of an elastomeric dielectric membrane sandwiched between two compliant electrodes. The large actuation strains of these transducers when used as actuators (over 300% area strain) and their soft and compliant nature has been exploited for a wide range of applications, including electrically tunable optics, haptic feedback devices, wave-energy harvesting, deformable cell-culture devices, compliant grippers, and propulsion of a bio-inspired fish-like airship.