Mechanical characterization of the life cycle of artificial muscles through stereoscopic computer vision and active contours

Artificial muscles are formed by attaching a conducting polymeric film to a non-conducting one. The flow of an electric current produces a macroscopic bending movement on the muscle. A good characterization of both, motion rate and energy of curvature, is required for improving the efficiency of these devices. In this paper, a two-cam stereo vision system is proposed to acquire and process the image sequence and a 3D snake for tracking the muscle. From the curve given by the snake, mechanical parameters of the artificial muscle can be estimated. The movements along the life cycle of the muscle can be compared with the energy consumed in each cycle. This is necessary for determining the span life of these devices in applications where they work as actuators. Results prove the validity of this approach.

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