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Novel electroactive polymeric materials for dielectric elastomers actuators and soft robots

Project description

New superskin for more heavy-use domains

Human-machine interaction will reach a new level with the development of soft tactile sensors. These haptic devices are important not just for robotics, but also for consumer electronics and medical and automotive applications. The challenge is to develop soft haptic skins that are robust enough for daily use in heavy-use consumer applications. The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) EPOMA DESO project will develop new self-healing elastomers to create haptic skins in the form of dielectric actuators. These transparent, highly stretchable and self-healing haptic skins opening up their use in far more heavy-use domains. The project’s overall aim is to bring them to market, establishing links with industrial partners and customers.

Objective

Interfacing between humans and machine using the sense of touch through haptic devices, is becoming increasingly important for consumer electronics, robotics, medical and automotive applications. One bio-inspired way to achieve this is by developing soft haptic skins that can both part and receive information through touch. However, developing soft haptic skins which have a significant tactile response and are robust enough for daily use in heavy use consumer applications is challenging. Our approach uses novel self-healing elastomers to create haptic skins in the form of dielectric actuators. By combining the self-healing elastomers with custom design approaches we also show higher spatial resolution and a larger tactile response in comparison to existing approaches. This allows for the creation of transparent, highly stretchable and self-healing haptic skins opening up their use in far more heavy use domains.
The market for haptic devices is large, and is estimated to reach $4. 5 billion by 2026. This is particularly driven by the need for novel machine-human interactions in the automotive, industrial machinery and medical industries. These market segments require reliable, robust haptic skins which can withstand high usage whilst providing a strong tactile response. We believe our haptic skin will allow for implementation and use in these high value target markets allowing for haptic skins to be used in a wide range of new and exciting application areas. The aim of this project is to bring our haptic skin to market by: performing market studies to quantify the economic margin and identify most promising markets; establishing links with industrial partners and customers; developing and optimizing haptic skins for robustness and tactile response to meet the demands of industry partners; running user studies using the proof-of-concept devices to benchmark and establish the benefits to industry.

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Topic(s)

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HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01

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Coordinator

UNIVERSIDAD DE SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 181 152,96
Address
COLEXIO DE SAN XEROME PRAZA DO OBRADOIRO S/N
15782 Santiago De Compostela
Spain

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Region
Noroeste Galicia A Coruña
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

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