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Ingram_WSL_Thesis_ETD. Whole Skin Locomotion Inspired by Amoeboid Motility Mechanisms. BibTeX @INPROCEEDINGS{Ingram05wholeskin, author = {Mark Edward Ingram and Mark E.

Whole Skin Locomotion Inspired by Amoeboid Motility Mechanisms

Ingram}, title = {Whole Skin Locomotion Inspired by Amoeboid Motility Mechanisms}, booktitle = {29th ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Conference}, year = {2005}} Bookmark. Electroactive Polymers (EAP) as Artificial Muscles (EPAM) for Robot Applications. Having previously written about various artificial muscle technologies, I'd like to examine the electroactive polymer (EAP) variant in more detail.

Electroactive Polymers (EAP) as Artificial Muscles (EPAM) for Robot Applications

I'll briefly discuss how EAPs function, then move on to myriad examples of EAPs used in robotics applications, including: biomimetic robot eyes, childrens' toys, and flapping-wing ornithopters. I'll also look at electroactive polymer artificial muscles (EPAM) that were invented at SRI International and subsequently spun off to startup Artificial Muscle, Inc. Amoeba-Like Whole-Skin Locomotion Robots Ooze Right On By. Back in 2007 and 2008, funding agencies had a pretty hefty interest in robots with amoeba-like locomotion, also known as whole-skin locomotion (WSL), blob 'bots, or Chembots.

Amoeba-Like Whole-Skin Locomotion Robots Ooze Right On By

NSF awarded $400k to Dr. Dennis Hong of Virginia Tech's RoMeLa Lab and DARPA awarded $3.3M to iRobot to develop such robots. Now, most people are familiar with iRobot's jamming skin robot announced at IROS 2009 (photos / videos below). However, I would like to share with you the equally-clever and interesting work of Dr. Hong, including a new whole-skin locomotion robot called ChIMERA: "Chemically Induced Motion Everting Robotic Amoeba" that was unveiled at a recent TEDxNASA event.