Analysis of the multi-balloon dielectric elastomer actuator for traveling wave motion

•The multi-balloon actuator is designed on the basis of a pneumatic rubber actuator and a DEA.•The fully soft actuator was successfully fabricated by screen printing, rubber casting, and plasma treatment processes.•The multi-balloon actuator’s components assembled and interacted with each other and could transport an object linearly.•This design can be applied to portable small-scale robots and annelid robots with high reliability and body compliance. [Display omitted] Recently, various soft actuators with biologically inspired motions have emerged in the field of robotics. The present study focuses on the development of a multi-balloon dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) to provide a traveling wave motion for the linear transportation of an object. The multi-balloon actuator is designed on the basis of a pneumatic rubber actuator and a DEA, which itself consists of a dielectric membrane mounted on a silicone air chamber. An actuator that is inflated by pre-charged air pressure induces a rapid response speed and large deformations using only electric power; thus, it does not require the bulky external system which is essential for conventional pneumatic actuators. A multi-balloon actuator made of only soft materials was successfully fabricated by screen printing, rubber casting, and plasma treatment processes. Throughout the experiment, the maximum displacements of the balloon actuator with respect to height and width were obtained at an air pressure of 12.2 kPa. Importantly, the multi-balloon actuator’s components assembled and interacted with each other and could successfully transport an object linearly via a traveling wave. In the object transfer experiment of this study, the linear velocity reached 0.97 mm/s with an initial air pressure and the applied voltage maintained at 13.3 kPa and 7.5 kV, respectively. The potential applicability of this system as a portable robot is demonstrated by replaying the traveling wave motions using a multi-balloon actuator. In the future, this design can be applied to portable small-scale robots and annelid robots with high reliability and body compliance.