Development of ICPF actuated underwater microrobots

It is our target to develop underwater microrobots for medical and industrial applications. This kind of underwater microrobots should have the characteristics of flexibility, good response and safety. Its structure should be simple and it can be driven by low voltage and produces no pollution or noise. The low actuating voltage and quick bending responses of Ionic Conducting Polymer Film (ICPF) are considered very useful and attractive for constructing various types of actuators and sensors. In this paper, we will first study the characteristics of the ICPF actuator used in underwater microrobot to realize swimming and walking. Then, we propose a new prototype model of underwater swimming microrobot utilizing only one piece of ICPF as the servo actuator. Through theoretic analysis, the motion mechanism of the microrobot is illustrated. It can swim forward and vertically. The relationships between moving speed and signal voltage amplitude and signal frequency is obtained after experimental study. Lastly, we present a novel underwater crab-like walking microrobot named crabliker-1. It has eight legs, and each leg is made up of two pieces of ICPF. Three sample processes of the octopod gait are proposed with a new analyzing method. The experimental results indicate that the crab-like underwater microrobot can perform transverse and rotation movement when the legs of the crab collaborate.