Work

Wafer-Level Microfabrication of Zipping Electrohydraulic Actuators for Soft Milli-Robots

Year: 2025

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: Miniaturizing soft robots is often limited by scaling down actuators while keeping high energy density and good response time. In this work we demonstrate the wafer-level microfabrication of electrostatic zipping soft actuators, similar to peano-HASELs. This methodology allows scaling electrohydraulic actuators down to millimeter and sub-millimeter size for highly integrated soft milli-robots. Benefits for soft robotics include repeatability, high precision devices and lower actuation voltage. We demonstrate a miniaturized soft actuator which is part of a swimming milli-robot operating with voltages of 300 V instead of the typical 1–5 kV.

Source: International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems

DOI: 10.1109/transducers61432.2025.11109149

Authors: Shai Shmulevich, Florian Hartmann, Herbert Shea

Institution: École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Language: English

Topic: Soft Robotics and Applications

Subfield: Biomedical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W4413321316

FWCI: 2.844

Cites: 5

Cited by: 1

Related to: 10