Potsdam scientists to investigate micro-motors made from rubber

ERJ staff report (DS)

Potsdam, Germany -- Scientists at the Potsdam University are investigating the use of electro-active rubber materials which might be used as motors for artificial muscles or actuators in robots or artificial prostheses.

The systems use elastic material which can extend by up to 300 percent when a potential of around 200V is applied. These offer a good weight-performance ratio and could potentially offer small, light actuators in a variety of applications.

While research into Dielectric Elastomer Actuators (DEA) is not new, the latest efforts aim to re-define and re-formulate the materials to obtain economically-viable actuators.

The project is called PowerAct and is a joint project by the University of Potsdam and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research in Potsdam and the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Micro Integration in Berlin. The project has euro 450 000 in funding from the German government. The scientist in charge of the project is Prof. Dr. Reimund Gerhard at Potsdam

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Press release from Potsdam University (German language)

Above story auto-translated into English