Department of Mechanics, School of Aerospace Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China.
Soft Robot. 2023 Feb;10(1):106-118. doi: 10.1089/soro.2021.0169. Epub 2022 May 31.
Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are widely used to drive soft machines, and optimal design is required in more advanced designs of soft robots. In this research article, a computational approach is originally proposed and validated for the topology optimization of electrodes of DEAs. The nonlinear finite elements of absolute nodal coordinate formulation are applied to model the dynamic electromechanical behaviors of DEAs. The parameterized level set method is employed to optimize the electrode topology of DEAs. Then, the method of system-wise equivalent static load is employed to convert the optimization problem of dynamic responses into the static one. Based on the sensitivity analysis, the normal velocity field for optimizing the electrode topology is derived. Finally, two case studies are presented to validate the proposed optimization approach. The experimental test is also performed, and the measured results are compared with the numerical ones to further validate the proposed methodology.
介电弹性体致动器（DEAs）广泛用于驱动软体机器人，在更先进的软体机器人设计中需要进行优化设计。在本研究论文中，提出并验证了一种用于 DEAs 电极拓扑优化的计算方法。应用绝对节点坐标格式的非线性有限元来模拟 DEAs 的动态机电行为。采用参数化水平集方法来优化 DEAs 的电极拓扑。然后，采用系统等效静载方法将动态响应的优化问题转化为静态问题。基于灵敏度分析，推导出用于优化电极拓扑的法向速度场。最后，提出了两个案例研究来验证所提出的优化方法。还进行了实验测试，并将测量结果与数值结果进行了比较，以进一步验证所提出的方法。
