A Self-loading Suction Cup Driven by Resonant-Impact Dielectric Elastomer Artificial Muscles.

Suction cups are widely utilized in industries and robotics for object manipulation and robot locomotion. However, current suction cup designs typically rely on external forces to remove the enclosed fluid within the suction cups during their loading processes, which is impractical in some real-world applications due to the complicated force control or the absence of proper anchoring prior to the suction. Aiming to address this limitation, this paper presents a self-loading suction cup driven by a resonant-impact dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA). The resonant-impact mechanism developed in this work can achieve a continuous and efficient removal of the enclosed fluid in the suction cup without the need for an external normal force. First, the frequency responses of the proposed resonant-impact DEA are characterized in this paper via extensive experiments. Next, optimization of its impact performance is performed with respect to its key design parameter. Finally, the suction performances of the self-loading suction cup in both water and air environments are tested. This novel suction cup has potential applications in soft robotic locomotion, medical robotics, surveillance and environmental monitoring.