Scalable Synthetic Muscle Actuator

We will discuss our work to build, characterize, and scale-up a metallized plastic muscle-like actuator called a Spiral Wound Transducer (SWT). Prototype SWTs have been built using microelectronics fabrication methods. The prototypes have demonstrated large amplitude motion and analog response (compression proportional to the applied voltage). The prototypes, though small (approximately 0.3mm(3)), have demonstrated forces equivalent to 12 grams for compressions of more than 15% at 30 Hz. The size of the SWTs is essentially unrestricted. Our work with commercially available metallized Mylar films to produce much larger, more powerful, and lower cost SWT devices will also be discussed.