Development and control of a micro artificial muscle cell using electro-conjugate fluid

As a man–machine interaction increases its importance in the robotic and mechatronic fields, a soft robot, which is inspired from natural systems, becomes one of the most important research trends. There are several research topics related to soft robots such as soft structures or artificial skins, compliance control, soft actuators or artificial muscles, and so on. For the natural muscle potentially has great flexibility, the authors believe that the artificial muscle actuator must be a promising technology for soft robots. Hence in this study, we develop a new type of micro artificial muscle cell, which is an element of an integrated artificial muscle, using electro-conjugate fluid (ECF) and measure its driving performances. In addition, position control characteristics are also clarified by experiments. Experimental results show the micro artificial muscle cell using electro-conjugate fluid has a quite good control performance.