Position control of ionic polymer metal composite actuator using quantitative feedback theory

An ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) is an electro-active polymer (EAP) that bends in response to a small applied electrical field as a result of mobility of cations in the polymer network and vice versa. Recently, IPMC is widely applied in many fields such as biometric, biomedical and micro-manipulator fields. This paper proposes a robust position controller for IPMCs which is based on the quantitative feedback theory (QFT). Firstly, the IPMC actuation was investigated. The PRBS input voltage signals were applied to the IPMC in order to identify the system characteristic. Consequently, the QFT controller for the IPMC was designed from the identified IPMC model. Experiments were carried out to validate the effectiveness of proposed controller applied to the IPMC.