Towards a New Generation of Soft Actuators using Phase Transition: Application to Morphable-Texture Skins and Soft Grippers

Abstract

Soft robotics is an expanding and promising field that deeply transforms the way we design actuators and sensors. Despite recent progress, there is still a need for electrically driven actuators being capable of providing large motions under low voltage. We explore here the concept of phase transition-driven actuators, in which the actuation only results from the large expansion taking place during a liquid to a gas phase transition. We demonstrate that such a concept can be used for creating original applications, including a morphable skin with controllable texture and a soft gripper. It would be very challenging, if not impossible, to design such actuators with other actuation technologies while preserving the same compactness.

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Morphable texture; Phase transition; Smart skin; Soft actuators; Soft robots

International Standard Book Number (ISBN)

978-849491946-6

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2025 SAGE Publications, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2019

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