積層キャスト法を用いた水中移動IPMC薄膜ソフトロボット

抄録

In this paper, we report on a multi-layer casting process of a Nafion membrane to produce a monolithic thin film robot (MTFR). This robot is developed on the basis of the novel concept of a soft robot, which has both a body part and an actuator part and does not require a mechanical and electrical assembly process. A MTFR is made from only one thin film that has thicknesses gradient. The thick parts of the membrane act as bone structures, and the thin parts of the membrane function as actuators. This multi-function structure of the MTFR realizes an assemblyless manufacturing process. To fabricate the monolithic film with a distributed thickness, we propose a multilayer casting process. To demonstrate the potential of a MTFR for use in a biomimetic application, we manufactured anomalocaris-like MTFR and conducted self-sustaining driving experiment in water.