High-Power Electrostatic Actuators to Realize Artificial Muscles

Electrostatic actuators are simple and lightweight devices that emulate human muscles. However, their usage has primarily been restricted to moving small devices since they need high voltages to generate significant forces. Now, however, it may be possible to use electrostatic actuators in artificial muscles thanks to research from Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) that made use of ferroelectric materials to create an electrostatic actuator that can generate a strong force at a low driving voltage.