This homepage is the electroactive polymer actuators website of the JPL's NDEAA Technologies.

Electroactive polymers (EAP) are being developed to enable effective, miniature, inexpensive, light and low power actuators for planetary applications. Various EAP materials, also called artificial muscles, are being investigated and new methods of characterizing them are being developed. A series of applications were demonstrated and can be seen on the EAP-in-Action homepage (video clippings). These applications include surface wiper, robotic arm components (lifter and gripper) and haptic interface. The surface wiper was demonstrated to be effective in removing minute dust particles and it was selected in 1999 as a baseline technology for the MUSES-CN mission. Initial plans involved the use of a pair of EAP surface wipers for dust removal from the visual/IR window of the Nanorover. The MUSES-CN flight project is the world's first asteroid sample return mission and it is a collaboration between Japan's Institute of Space and Astronautical Sciences and NASA, and is scheduled for launch in January 2002.
Even though the mission was cancelled, the selection of EAP actuated wiper as a baseline for this mission has been a major milestone that led to a worldwide recognition of the potential of these materials.
The material that was used for bending the surface wiper is known as IPMC (Ion-exchange Polymer Metal Composite) and our study indicates that there are many challenges that still need to be overcome before the material can be transition to space flight. These challenges include: permanent deformation of the material under DC voltage, the material dehydrates though the protective coating, and electrolysis takes place during activation above 1.23-V.

WorldWide EAP Actuators (Artificial Muscles) Webhub.

News clipping covering the JPL's NDEAA EAP R&D activity

Publications

1997 NASA Telerobotics Review - LoMMAs

Electroactive Polymer (EAP) Actuators - SPIE, San Diego, CA March 1997

EAP Robotics - SPIE, San Diego, CA March 1998, 3329-07

EAP Materials - SPIE, San Diego, CA March 1998., paper 3324-32

EAP Ion-Exchange (bending actuator/sensor) - SPIE, San Diego, CA March 1998

Robotic Arm Actuated by EAP and Operated Equivalently to Human Arm and Hand - Robotics98, Albuquerque, NM, April 1998

"IPMC as Biomimetic Sensors, Actuators & Artificial Muscles," Smart Materials & Structures J., Vol. 7, No. 6, (December, 1998) pp. R15-R30

Electro-Active Polymer (EAP) actuators for planetary applications, SPIE , Newport Beach, CA, March 1-2, 1999 paper 3669-05

Electrical Impedance of Ionic Polymeric Metal Composites, SPIE, ibid, paper 3669-09

Scaling Laws of Microactuators and Potential Applications of Electroactive Polymers in MEMS, SPIE, ibid, paper 3669-33

Flexible low-mass devices and mechanisms actuated by Electroactive Polymers, SPIE, ibid, 1999 paper 3669-38

Electro-statically stricted polymers (ESSP), SPIE, ibid, paper 3669-41

"Ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) as biomimetic sensors, actuators and artificial muscles - a review" Smart Mater. Struct. 7 No 6 (December 1998) R15-R30, PII: S0964-1726(1998) 98025-9

"Electroactive Polymer (EAP) Actuating a Dust Wiper and Miniature Robotic Arm," SPIE Newsletter, International Technical Group on Robotics and Machine Perception, July 1999

"Challenges to the transition of IPMC artificial muscle actuators to practical application"Document ID: 31295, MRS Symposium: FF: Electroactive Polymers, Nov. 29 to Dec. 1, 1999 at Boston, MS

"Electroactive Polymers as Artificial Muscles - Capabilities, Potentials and Challenges" Keynote Presentation at the Robotics 2000 and Space 2000. Albuquerque, NM, USA, February 28 - March 2, 2000

"Electroactive Polymers As Artificial Muscles - Capabilities, Potentials And Challenges"HANDBOOK ON BIOMIMETICS, Yoshihito Osada (Chief Ed.), Section 11, in Chapter 8, "Motion" paper #134, publisher: NTS Inc., Expected on Aug. 2000

"Electroactive Polymers as Artificial Muscles Changing Robotics Paradigms," NSMMS Symposium, San Diego, CA, 27 Feb. to 2 March 2000.

"Electroactive Polymers (EAP) Characterization Methods," SPIE Smart Structures 2000, EAPAD Conf. Newport Beach, CA, March 2000, paper 3987-4

"Challenges to the transition of IPMC artificial muscle actuators to practical application," SPIE Smart Structures 2000, EAPAD Conf. ibid, paper 3987-21

"Transition of EAP material from novelty to practical applications - are we there yet?," SPIE Smart Structures 2001, EAPAD Conf., Newport Beach, CA, March 2000, paper 4329-02

"Characterization of the Electromechanical Properties of EAP materials," SPIE Smart Structures 2001, EAPAD Conf., paper 4329-43

"Virtual reality robotic telesurgery simulations using MEMICA haptic system," SPIE Smart Structures 2001, EAPAD Conf. ibid, paper 4329-47

"Androids: application of EAP as artificial muscles to entertainment industry," SPIE Smart Structures 2001, EAPAD Conf. ibid, paper 4329-74

"Electroactive Polymers as Artificial Muscles - Reality and Challenges," 42nd AIAA Structures, paper #2001-1492, Seattle WA, April 16-19 2001

"Nanotechnology Using Electroactive Polymers as Artificial Muscles," MSTnews, International Newsletter on Microsystems and MEMS (June 2001)

"Electro-active polymers: current capabilities and challenges," Paper 4695-02, Proceedings of the SPIE Smart Structures and Materials Symposium, EAPAD Conference, San Diego, CA, March 17-19, 2002

"Measurements and Macro Models of Ionomeric Polymer-Metal Composites (IPMC)," Paper 4695-27, ibid

"Characterization of the Electromechanical Properties of Ionomeric Polymer-Metal Composite (IPMC)," Paper 4695-33, ibid

"The use of Piezoelectric Resonators for the Characterization of Mechanical Properties of Polymers," Paper 4695-35, ibid

"Biologically Inspired Intelligent Robotics," Paper 5051-02, Proceedings of the SPIE Smart Structures Conference, San Diego, CA., Mar 2-6. 2003

"Numerical modeling of single-layer electroactive polymer mirrors for space applications," Paper 5051-45, ibid

Keynote presentation at the 2003 ICMENS "Biologically Inspired Intelligent Robots Using Artificial Muscles," Banff, Alberta, Canada, July 20 to 23, 2003"

"Wirelessly controllable inflated electroactive polymer (EAP) reflectors," Proceedings of the 2005 SPIE Smart Structures Conference, San Diego, CA. March 7-10, 2005, Paper 5759-52

"Biomimetics: mimicking and inspired-by biology," Proceedings of the 2005 SPIE Smart Structures Conference, San Diego, CA. March 7-10, 2005, Paper 5759-02

LoMMAs Team

EAP support technology - Dr. Joycelyn Harrison and Dr. Joseph Smith, NASA LaRC

Self-assembled Monolayering - Prof. Rick Claus, Virginia Tech

ElectroRheological Fluids for Haptic Interfaces & Robotic Telepresence - Prof. D. Mavroidis, and C. Pfeiffer, Rutgers U.

Energy Science Laboratories, Inc., San Diego, CA. - Dr. Timothy Knowles

International Technology Cooperation

Dr. Keisuke Oguro, Chief of Hydrogen, Energy Section, Osaka National Research Institute, Osaka, Japan

Prof. Satoshi Tadokoro, Dept. of Computer & Systems Engineering, Kobe University, Japan

Team partners

MicroElectronicMechanicalSystems (MEMS) on polymers - Prof. Chang Liu, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Gel Polymers - Prof. Paul Calvert, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Inkprinting - Dr. David Wallace, MicroFab

Former LoMMAs team members

Introduced and supplied Na+/Pt type IPMC films - Prof. Mohsen Shahinpoor, University of New Mexico, NM (part of LoMMAs in FY'96 to FY'98)

RELATED WEBSITES

Structures & Materials Applications at JPL

EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH WEBSITE

UCLA - The EAP robotic arm with the 4-finger gripper (shown above) was constructed by the graduate students: Cinkiat Abidin, Brian Lucky, Harry Mashhoud and Marlene Turner, under the guidance of Dr. Bar-Cohen. This robotic arm was constructed in FY'97 as the students' research project meeting the academic requirements at the Integrated Manufacturing Engineering (IME) Dept.

Last updated - July 22, 2002