Development of a distributed actuation device consisting of soft gel actuator elements

It is desirable that soft objects like organs are manipulated by soft actuation devices. This paper presents a newly developed device using a large number of actuator elements made of a soft gel material, which applies a distributed driving force on objects. The material used in the device is an ionic conducting polymer gel film and the structure of the elements is elliptical friction drive. Experimental results showed that an object placed on such a device could move at a speed of 0.62 mm/sec. This paper refers also to fundamental experiments and a concept for a more efficient drive.