Beijing, China (October 9-15)
Organizers
- Prof. H. R. Choi (Sungkyunkwan University, Korea)
- Prof. K. J. Kim (Univ. of Nevada, Reno, USA)
- Prof. M. Yamakita (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan)
Instructors
- Prof. H. R. Choi (Sungkyunkwan University, S. Korea) http://mecha.skku.ac.kr/
- Prof. K. Kaneto (Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan) http://www.life.kyutech.ac.jp
- Prof. K. J. Kim (University of Nevada, Reno, U.S.A.)
http://equinox.unr.edu/homepage/kwangkim/ - Prof. X. Tan (Michigan State University, U.S.A.)
http://www.egr.msu.edu/~xbtan - Prof. M. Yamakita (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan) http://www.ctrl.titech.ac.jp
- Prof. W. Yim (University of Nevada, Las Vegas, U.S.A.) http://www.me.unlv.edu/~7Ewy/
Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite in action
Motivation and Objectives
The focus of this half-day tutorial is on the Electro-Active Polymer (EAP) Actuators and Sensors. The tutorial will cover the fundamental chemistry, physics, modeling, and demonstration of EAPs in robotic applications. Realizing that the properties of natural muscle are i) to produce large strain and moderate stress with a good bandwidth, ii) to show good efficiency, iii) and to perform for long-cycle life, an enabling new technology, EAP actuators, and sensors based upon polymer science and
engineering, is emerging to do the same job that natural muscles can do. EAPs are ideal for a variety of biologically inspired robotics applications. Electromechanical properties of EAPs can be controlled in response to an electric field. In particular, they are highly active actuators that show
very large deformation. They can operate both in a humid and dry environment. In order to develop robust robotic devices actuated by EAP, it is necessary for engineers to understand their fundamental physics and chemistry.
