Soft haptic device and method of local control therein
AssigneeKorea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
InventorsKi-Uk Kyung, Seung-Yeon Jang, Hyunwoo Kim, Minjae Cho, Minki Kim
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A soft haptic device and a local control method are disclosed. The soft haptic device includes a soft actuator. The soft actuator includes an electroactive polymer film, a patterned electrode, and a dielectric liquid injected between the electroactive polymer film and the patterned electrode. The soft actuator generates a reconfigurable shape such that a form of an output shape and a number of outputtable shapes are changed depending on the number of electrodes constituting the patterned electrode, a shape of the electrodes, and an arrangement of the electrodes.
Claims15
A soft haptic device comprising:
- a soft actuator comprising:
- an electroactive polymer film;
- a patterned electrode;
- and
- a dielectric liquid injected between the electroactive polymer film and the patterned electrode,
- wherein the soft actuator is configured to generate a reconfigurable shape such that a form of an output shape and a number of outputtable shapes are changed depending on a number of electrodes constituting the patterned electrode, a shape of the electrodes, and an arrangement of the electrodes, and
- the dielectric liquid generates a hydraulic pressure as the dielectric liquid flows to an area where no electrostatic attractive force acts between the electroactive polymer film and the patterned electrode and no resistance is applied to a flow of the dielectric liquid, and the electroactive polymer film is stretched due to the hydraulic pressure.
A local control method of a soft haptic device, the local control method comprising:
- starting electrical zipping in an area where an initial gap is smallest between an outermost portion of an individual electrode constituting a patterned electrode to which a voltage is applied and an electroactive polymer film in a soft actuator comprising a dielectric liquid injected between the electroactive polymer film and the patterned electrode;
- propagating the electrical zipping when the dielectric liquid generates a hydraulic pressure as the dielectric liquid starts to flow from the area where the initial gap is smallest and flows to an area where no electrostatic attractive force acts between the electroactive polymer film and the patterned electrode and no resistance is applied to a flow of the dielectric liquid;
- and
- ending the electrical zipping when a restoring force of the electroactive polymer film caused by the stretching of the electroactive polymer film due to the hydraulic pressure, a pressure of the dielectric liquid, and an electrostatic force acting between the patterned electrode and the soft electrode disposed on the electroactive polymer film are in equilibrium.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.