Validating Usability of Ionomeric Polymer-Metal Composite Actuators for Real World Applications

Ionomeric polymer-metal composites (IPMC) are electroactive polymer (EAP) materials that bend when electrically stimulated. As IPMC is a relatively new material, proper control methods have not yet evolved. In this paper the usability of IMPC actuators in real world applications is examined from the point of view of precision control. We propose a classical inverted pendulum control problem as a testbed. We suggest that if the pendulum can be balanced, then we have proven the usability of IPMC actuators for precise control tasks. In this paper we describe an inverted pendulum system driven by an IPMC actuator with PC-based control and a camera in the feedback loop. We report the preliminary experimental results in controlling the pendulum and discuss further improvements. To our knowledge this is the first attempt to control a system or manipulate an object with IMPC actuators in a feedback loop

[1]  Yoseph Bar-Cohen,et al.  Biologically inspired intelligent robots , 2003, SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring.

[2]  Martin Levesley,et al.  Biologically inspired control for artificial muscles , 2002, SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring.

[3]  Masayuki Inaba,et al.  Dynamics of gel robots made of electro-active polymer gel , 2001, Proceedings 2001 ICRA. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.01CH37164).

[4]  Kiran Mallavarapu.  Feedback Control of Ionic Polymer Actuators , 2001 .

[5]  Kinji Asaka,et al.  Modeling of the electromechanical response of ionic polymer metal composites (IPMC) , 2004, SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring.

[6]  Yoseph Bar-Cohen,et al.  Flexible, Low-mass Robotic Arm Actuated by Electroactive Polymers and Operated Equivalently to Human Arm and Hand , 1998 .

[7]  Shuxiang Guo,et al.  Micro active guide wire catheter system , 1995, Proceedings 1995 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Human Robot Interaction and Cooperative Robots.

[8]  Yoseph Bar-Cohen,et al.  Electroactive Polymer (EAP) Actuators as Artificial Muscles: Reality, Potential, and Challenges, Second Edition , 2004 .

[9]  Won-jong Kim,et al.  Precision force and position control of an ionic polymer metal composite , 2004, Proceedings of the 2004 American Control Conference.

[10]  Masayuki Inaba,et al.  Motion design of a starfish-shaped gel robot made of electro-active polymer gel , 2002, Robotics Auton. Syst..

[11]  Toshi Takamori,et al.  Development of a Multi-Degree-of-Freedom Micromotion Device Consisting of Soft Gel Actuators , 1999, J. Robotics Mechatronics.

[12]  Toshi Takamori,et al.  Development of a distributed actuation device consisting of soft gel actuator elements , 1998, Proceedings. 1998 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.98CH36146).

[13]  Toshi Takamori,et al.  Distributed Actuation Devices Using Soft Gel Actuators , 2000 .

[14]  A Biologically Inspired Ray-like Underwater Robot with Electroactive Polymer Pectoral Fins , 2004 .

[15]  K. Sadeghipour,et al.  Development of a novel electrochemically active membrane and 'smart' material based vibration sensor/damper , 1992 .

[16]  Yoseph Bar-Cohen,et al.  Challenges to the application of IPMC as actuators of planetary mechanisms , 2000, Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring.

[17]  Toshi Takamori,et al.  Modeling of ICPF (ionic conducting polymer film) actuator-modeling of electrical characteristics , 1995, Proceedings of IECON '95 - 21st Annual Conference on IEEE Industrial Electronics.

[18]  Y. Cohen.  Electroactive Polymer (EAP) Actuators as Artificial Muscles - Reality , 2001 .

[19]  Masayuki Inaba,et al.  Inverse kinematics of gel robots made of electro-active polymer gel , 2002, Proceedings 2002 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.02CH37292).

[20]  Shuxiang Guo,et al.  Development of a new type of capsule micropump , 1999, Proceedings 1999 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.99CH36288C).

[21]  Kazuhiro Kosuge,et al.  Micro catheter system with active guide wire , 1995, Proceedings of 1995 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[22]  T. Takamori,et al.  Linear approximate dynamic model of ICPF (ionic conducting polymer gel film) actuator , 1996, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[23]  Masayuki Inaba,et al.  Inverse dynamics of gel robots made of electro-active polymer gel , 2003, 2003 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.03CH37422).

[24]  Toshi Takamori,et al.  An actuator model of ICPF for robotic applications on the basis of physicochemical hypotheses , 2000, Proceedings 2000 ICRA. Millennium Conference. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Symposia Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37065).

[25]  Satoshi Tadokoro,et al.  Characteristics and Modeling of ICPF Actuator : 16th Report : A estimation of Nafion-Au ICPF actuator model , 2003 .