Bucklinginduced Shape Morphing using Dielectric Elastomer Actuators Patterned with Spatiallyvarying Electrodes Shape morphing is at the core of future research, which shows promise for wide applications ranging from reconfigurable electronics to soft material robots. In this paper, we present a novel bucklinginduced mechanism for shape morphing using dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs), by bonding the planar precursor structurexe2x80x99s xe2x80x9cfeetxe2x80x9d with the DEA. With spatiallyvarying electric fields applied, the inplane deformation of the DEA generates compressive loads to trigger buckling of planar precursors into desired threedimensional configurations. To enlarge the achievable motion range at the xe2x80x9cfeetxe2x80x9d, we develop a design optimization approach to the electrode arrangement which is concisely described by cosine functions. By numerically optimizing the cosine function coefficients, we obtain the optimal spatiallyvarying electrodes for various precursors with different patterns of bonding sites. The experimental results demonstrate the remarkable shapemorphing from two dimensions to three dimensional configurations. Our work paves the way to novel actuation mechanisms for shapemorphing structures, with advantages of rapid response and reversible controllability.

Design and Analysis of StiffnessVariable Soft Fingers with Dielectric Elastomers This paper presents a novel kind of soft robotic finger with variable stiffness, which is realized by the geometric parameter change of the embedded dielectric elastomers(DEs) due to the electromechanical coupling mechanism. Based on finite element modeling and numeric analysis techniques, a nodebased finite element modeling approach with numeric iteration (nFENMNI) is proposed for kinematic modeling of the soft finger. According to the established kinematic model, the designed variable stiffness soft finger can have different postures with different input pulling load and input voltages. The numeric iteration in the nFEMNI method is used to establish the inputoutput model of the proposed cabledriven soft robotic finger. The finite element simulation experiments with Abaqus and Python are conducted to validate the performances of posture control of designed soft finger with different joint stiffness. The results indicate that the presented soft finger with dielectric elastomers has some degrees of capabilities of stiffness adaption under the same input load or different contact force requirements.