Global ETD Search
Search theses and dissertations gathered from participating repositories worldwide. Every result links back to the library that holds it. No account is needed.
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Showing 1 to 20 of 27 for “"soft actuators"”.
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Electroosmotic Soft Actuators
… involved in creating the first paper-based soft actuator driven by electroosmosis. To accomplish this, research breakthroughs were made in the fields of electrokinetic pumping and device manufacturing using soft materials. Electroosmosis is an electrically induced microfluidic flow …
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Large Deformable Soft Actuators Using Dielectric Elastomer and Origami Inspired Structures
… of new configurations, control mechanisms, and actuators based upon its applications. Despite significant improvements in modern robotics, the biologically inspired robots has taken the center stage. Inspired by nature, biologically inspired robots are called ‘soft robots’. Within these robots …
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Wearable exoskeleton systems based-on pneumatic soft actuators and controlled by parallel processing
… rehabilitation exoskeletons based on pneumatic soft actuators. A novel extensor-contractor pneumatic muscle has been designed and constructed. This new actuator has bidirectional action, allowing it to both extend and contract, as well as create force in both directions. A mathematical model has …
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Generalizable Modelling of Vacuum-Powered Soft Actuators And Its Use in Design for Mechanical Assistive Applications
… the output force profile of vacuum-powered soft actuators using a simplified geometrical approach and the principle of virtual work. Previous work has derived analytical formulas to model the force-contraction profile of specific actuators. To enhance the versatility and the efficiency of …
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Additively Manufactured Dielectric Elastomer Actuators: Development and Performance Enhancement
… recently emerging and actively growing areas of soft robotics and morphing structures promise endless opportunities in a wide range of engineering fields, including biomedical, industrial, and aerospace. Soft actuators and sensors are essential components of any soft robot or morphing structure. …
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Dielectric elastomers for space robotics applications
Soft robots, devices with deformable bodies powered by soft actuators, may fill a hitherto unexplored niche in space. All space-bound payloads are heavily limited in terms of mass and volume, due to the cost of launch and the size of spacecraft. Being constructed from flexible materials allows many …
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An artificial skeletal muscle for use in pediatric rehabilitation robotics
… include: low weight, quiet operation, soft feel, and size and shape approximating that of a natural limb, with cost being an important factor. Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) feature great promise in fulfilling these requirements. Nonetheless, so far only a few studies have …
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Modeling and design of fiber reinforced pneumatic actuators for soft robotics applications
Soft robotics is an emerging branch of robotics where the objective is to make robot structures soft and compliant. These robots trade accuracy and load bearing ability with adaptability and safety. Such robots require soft actuators to generate force and/or motion. Fiber reinforced pneumatic …
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Soft Bending Actuator for Body-Powered Application
Soft actuators are inherently compliant, highly dexterous, and lightweight alternatives to traditional electromechanical actuators in many robotic applications, especially human-interactive robots. This research aims to develop a soft robotic actuator that leverages body movements to mimic the …
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Modeling and Analysis of a Novel Pneumatic Artificial Muscle and Pneumatic Arm Exoskeleton
The soft robotics field is developing rapidly and is poised to have a wide impact in a variety of applications. Soft robots have intrinsic compliance, offering a number of benefits as compared to traditional rigid robots. Compliance can provide compatibility with biological systems such as the …
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Magnetism and interactions at the nanoscale: synthesis, characterization and applications
… magnetic behavior and potential applications in soft magnetic actuators. The study successfully constructs a reconfigurable magnetic composite film and demonstrates the creation of magnetic soft actuators with various actuation modes. In addition to experimental work, numerical simulations are …
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Fabrication and osmosis-mediated dynamics of a plant-inspired, fluid-filled, soft actuator
… Therefore, PTAs hold the potential to be used as soft actuators in biomedical applications which demand high force and structural support.
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Functional Protein Based Materials
… gelatin were tested for use in biocomposites and soft actuating materials, respectively. In Chapter II, the self-assembly mechanism of trypsin hydrolyzed wheat gluten (THWG) into rigid β-sheets was applied to an aqueous polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) environment. Aqueous PVA was used in order to …
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Effects of Electrode Surface Morphology on the Transduction of Ionic Polymer-Metal Composites
… environment, IPMCs are attractive for developing soft actuators and sensors for underwater robots and medical devices. This dissertation focuses on investigating the effects of electrode surface morphology in the transduction of Pt and Pd-Pt electrodes-based IPMCs, with the aim to improve the …
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3D-printing form and function
… portion of this thesis focuses on 3D-printing soft actuators. After highlighting a few example applications of printed actuator arrays, this is used as a case study for topology optimization based design strategies. It is shown that the inclusion of a topology optimizer in the 3D-printing …
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Development of Liquid Crystalline Elastomers as Soft Mechanical Actuators
… in the scientific community to construct soft mechanical actuators from these materials. However, the development of LCE actuators is currently limited within the academic community and it lacks interest from the industry. Despite being studied for the past 30 years, LCEs have not yet been …
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Twisted and coiled polymer actuator (TCPA) for soft robotic applications
Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2027-05-01
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Modeling of magnetorheological elastomers
… seen in crystalline solids. Ultrasoft MREs, with Young's moduli on the order of kPa or less, have characteristic pinched magnetic hysteresis loop shapes that are associated with rearrangement and clustering of magnetic particles within the surrounding polymer matrix. MREs have …
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Molecular design of precise ionic polymer networks for fundamental structure-property-relationships and energy-related applications
… as the electrolyte material for dopant-free soft actuators and high temperature and voltage stable solid-state supercapacitors. The ammonium nIPs were synthesized by step-growth polymerization between trifunctional amine and dibromo species to form networks with ammonium cation fixed on the …
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Process-Structure-Property Relationships of Cellulose Derivative/Thermoplastic Urethane Polymer Composites
… potential for next-generation applications in soft robotics, flexible electronics, and adaptive structures. However, the widespread adoption of such systems remains limited by processing challenges, particularly the difficulty of incorporating cellulose derivatives into thermoplastic matrices …
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