A hands-on paradigm for EAP education: Undergraduates, pre-college students, and beyond

Electroactive polymers (EAPs) are receiving increasing interest from researchers due to their unique capabilities and numerous potential applications in biomimetic robots, smart structures, biomedical devices, and micro/nanomanipulation. Since these materials are relatively new, it is imperative to educate students and the,general public to raise their awareness of EAP potentials and produce the talent pool needed for continuing, rapid advances in the field of EAPs. In this paper we describe our concerted effort in teaching EAP to undergraduates, grade school students, and the general public, through hands-on research and learning on EAP-based biomimetic robots. Two integrated activities are highlighted: A senior Capstone design program on EAP robots, and the subsequent programs that use these developed robots to reach out to pre-college students. A robotic fish and a sociable robot enabled by ionic polymer-metal composite materials are used as examples throughout the paper.