Fig. 6: Actuation and impact resistance of an Electro-Stiffened Ribbon Actuator (ESRA)-supported arm.
From: Monolithic electrostatic actuators with independent stiffness modulation
a Passive operation of the system with variable stiffness. The arm was supported by an ESRA undergoing initial displacement, pulled down by a rope, and subsequently released. The displacement of the arm’s tip is shown with blue and red lines, representing 0 kV and 7 kV stiffening voltages, respectively. b Passive operation of the system with variable stiffness impacted by a free-falling 8.8 g object onto the arm’s tip. The blue and red lines show the arm tip’s displacement with 0 kV and 7 kV stiffening voltages, respectively. c Active operation of the system, hit by released (i) 24.7 g and (ii) 11.3 g objects, respectively. The yellow line represents the actuation displacement under normal conditions without external impact, while the blue and red lines illustrate the displacement change under external impact in unstiffened and stiffened states, respectively. The vertical dashed lines indicate the moments when the voltage is turned on and off. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
