Realization of Cilia Motion of Annelida by Distributed IPMC Actuators

Recently Electro active polymer has been discussed in various researches as new actuators replacing the human muscles. Since they have confronted a limitation of more advanced application with traditional actuator. IPMC (Ion exchange Polymer Metal Composite) is one of candidate materials for new actuators. In this paper, we propose a new approach and design principle for the IPMC polymer actuator to conquer the weaknesses of IPMC that is intrinsic weak structural stiffness and low trust forces. In the first we performs some experimental works about how the basic specific characteristics of IPMC vary and what the optimal operating conditions are. And we have applied IPMC as active cilium for realization of annelida motion like ...