Low-Voltage-Driven Soft Electrothermal Actuators Based on Phase-Change Materials

Traditional pneumatic soft actuators have been widely used in the field of soft robotics owing to their high output force and large deformation capabilities. However, their bulky pumping systems pose limitations on their portability and miniaturization. In this study, we propose a method of PVA film-assisted manufacturing chamber and design an electrothermal soft actuator based on a phase change material. The actuator makes the phase change material filled in the chamber change into the vapor phase by heating from the embedded electrothermal wire, thus driving the actuator to deform. The actuator designed in this article can achieve a unilateral deformation of 17 mm and an output force of 0.265 N at a voltage of 5 V (the weight of the actuator itself is 1.5 g). In addition, based on the absolute node coordinate method, we adopt the hyperelastic material model, which can well describe the large deformation behavior of this soft structure, to model the actuator.