conference paper
Wafer-Level Microfabrication of Zipping Electrohydraulic Actuators for Soft Milli-Robots
June 29, 2025
2025 23rd International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems (Transducers)
Miniaturizing soft robots is often limited by scaling down actuators while keeping high energy density and good response time. In this work we demonstrate the wafer-level microfabrication of electrostatic zipping soft actuators, similar to peano-HASELs. This methodology allows scaling electrohydraulic actuators down to millimeter and sub-millimeter size for highly integrated soft milli-robots. Benefits for soft robotics include repeatability, high precision devices and lower actuation voltage. We demonstrate a miniaturized soft actuator which is part of a swimming milli-robot operating with voltages of 300 V instead of the typical 1–5 kV.