Research on Flexural Performance of Bionic Fingers by Dielectric Elastomer Actuator

Soft bionic fingers can grasp some fragile items in order to prevent damage to the objects during the grasping process. Therefore, a bionic finger driven by dielectric elastomer which has the bending feature is designed. The experiment bending characteristics of the finger are tested separately on the different variables such as the number of dielectric elastomer layers and the pre-stretched ratio. When the length and pre-stretched ratio of the finger on single-layer dielectric elastomer are 70 mm and 2.5 separately, the maximum bending angle is 6 degree under the applied voltage 820 V. When the length and pre-stretched ratio of the finger on double-layer dielectric elastomer are 68 mm and 2.5 separately, the bending angle of double-layer film is 13 degree under the applied voltage 650 V. A larger bending angle will be improved on the change of the structural variables and the function of the gripper will be realized.