An electrostatic adsorption actuation module and its application

In this paper, an electrostatic adsorption actuation module is proposed, which uses the accumulation and superposition of electrostatic adsorption film to form a spring configuration. Each actuation module consists of 20 electrostatic adsorption films, which are composed of copper layers deposited on polyimide (PI) films and adhesive PI film covering layers. The maximum approximate output displacement and force of the module are about 1.10 mm and 0.108 N, respectively, by connecting springs with stiffness of 58 N/m in series and pre-stretching them by 2 mm. In order to demonstrate the application of an electrostatic adsorption actuation module, a dual-module antagonistic actuator, a crawling robot, a force feedback button and a gripper are designed. The results indicate that the actuation module accumulated by electrostatic adsorption film can achieve a lightweight microactuator design, and the antagonistic actuator can achieve a bidirectional reciprocating motion of about 0.8 mm. The crawling robot can crawl at a speed of about 0.34 mm/s on a smooth surface, and the force feedback button can achieve a force feedback function based on displacement changes under different voltages. The gripper can successfully grasp about 1 g of light objects. This work lays a foundation for the lightweight artificial muscle design of humanoid robots in the future.