As a major human sensory function, the implementation of the tactile sensation for the human-machine interface has been one of the core research interests for long time. In this paper, an innovative tactile display device based on the soft actuator technology is presented. Using electroactive polymer for the construction of the tactile display device, it can provide stimulation on the human skin without any additional electromechanical transmission. Softness and flexibility of the device structure, ease of fabrication, possibility for miniaturization, and low cost for mass production are the representative benefits of the presented device. Especially, the device application is open to many different purposes since the flexible structure offers the excellent adaptability to any contour of the human body. To prove its feasibility, a wearable device that can fit to the distal part of the human finger is presented and its performance is evaluated, experimentally.

Tactile sensation is one of the most important sensory functions for human perception of objects. Recently, there have been many technical challenges in the field of tactile sensing as well as tactile display. In this paper, we propose an innovative tactile display device based on soft actuator technology with electroactive polymer (EAP). This device offers advantageous features over existing devices with respect to intrinsic flexibility, softness, ease of fabrication and miniaturization, high power density, and cost effectiveness. In particular, it can be adapted to various geometric configurations because it possesses structural flexibility, so it can be worn on any part of the human body such as finger, palm, and arm etc. It can be extensively applied as a wearable tactile display, a Braille device for the visually disabled, and a human interface in the future. A new design of the flexible actuator is proposed and its basic operational principles are discussed. In addition, a tactile display device with 10times10 actuator array (100 actuator cells) is developed and its effectiveness is confirmed

Tactile sensation is one of the most important sensory functions along with the auditory sensation for the visually impaired because it replaces the visual sensation of the persons with sight. In this paper, we present a tactile display device as a dynamic Braille display that is the unique tool for exchanging information among them. The proposed tactile cell of the Braille display is based on the dielectric elastomer and it has advantageous features over the existing ones with respect to intrinsic softness, ease of fabrication, cost effectiveness and miniaturization. We introduce a new idea for actuation and describe the actuating mechanism of the Braille pin in details capable of realizing the enhanced spatial density of the tactile cells. Finally, results of psychophysical experiments are given and its effectiveness is confirmed.

In this paper we present a packaged actuator to be applied for micro- and macro- robotic applications. The actuator is based on polymer dielectrics, and intrinsically has muscle-like characteristics capable of performing motions such as forward/backward/controllable compliance. The actuator is featured in several aspects such as simplicity and lightness in weight, cost-effectiveness, multiple DOF-actuation, and digital interface. In this paper, its basic concepts are briefly introduced and the issues about design, fabrication and applications are discussed.

In this paper a new soft actuator based on dielectric elastomer is proposed. The actuator, called an antagonistically-driven linear actuator (ANTLA), has the muscle-like characteristics capable of performing the motions such as forward/backward/controllable compliance. Due to its simplicity of configuration and ease of fabrication, it has the advantage to be scale-independently implemented in meso- or micro-scale robotic applications. Its basic concepts are introduced and a quasi-static analysis is performed with experimental verifications.

In this paper a new soft actuator based on dielectric elastomer is proposed. The actuator, called an antagonistically-driven linear actuator (ANTLA), has the muscle-like characteristics capable of performing the motions such as forward/backward/controllable compliance. In this paper, its dynamic analysis is performed with experimental verifications, and applications for robotic actuating devices are introduced.

In this paper a microrobot, mimicking annelid animals like the earthworm, is presented. The robot is composed of several ring-like segments. Each segment is able to generate three degree-of-freedom motions such as pan/tilt/up-down respectively, and it is actuated by three soft actuators located equidistantly along the circumferential direction. The soft actuator, called antagonistically-driven linear actuator (ANTLA), is based on polymer dielectrics and has muscle-like characteristics capable of performing motions such as forward/backward/controllable compliance. In this paper, the basic concept of the actuator is briefly reviewed and the robot, including the ring-like segment, is explained in detail with demonstrations.

We present a robot system for in-pipe inspection of underground urban gas pipelines. The robot is configured as an articulated structure like a snake with a tether cable. Two active driving vehicles are located in front and rear of the system, and passive modules such as a control module are chained between the active vehicles. The proposed robot has outstanding mobility offered by a new steering mechanism, called double active universal joint, which makes it possible to cope with complicated configurations of underground pipelines. Characteristic features of the system are described and the construction of the system is briefly outlined.