{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,16]],"date-time":"2026-07-16T05:23:35Z","timestamp":1784179415822,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,19]],"date-time":"2025-01-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1737244800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["52109067"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52109067"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["52305507"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52305507"]}]},{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","award":["2021JQ-173"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021JQ-173"]}]},{"name":"Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi","award":["52109067"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52109067"]}]},{"name":"Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi","award":["52305507"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52305507"]}]},{"name":"Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi","award":["2021JQ-173"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2021JQ-173"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Micromachines"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are difficult to apply to flexible grippers due to their small deformation range and low output force. Hence, a DEA with a large bending deformation range and output force was designed, and a corresponding flexible gripper was developed to realize the function of grasping objects of different shapes. The relationship between the pre-stretch ratio and DEA deformation degree was tested by experiments. Based on the performance test results of the dielectric elastomer (DE), the bending deformation process of DEAs with different shapes was simulated by Finite Element Method (FEM) simulation. DEAs with different shapes were prepared through laser cutting and the relationship between the voltage and the bending angle, and the output force of the DEAs was measured. The result shows that under uniaxial stretching, the deformation of the DEA in the stretching direction gradually increases and decreases in the unstretched direction with the increase in the pre-stretch ratio. Under biaxial stretching, DEA deformation increases with the increase in the pre-stretch ratio. The shape of the DEA has a certain influence on the bending deformation range under the same conditions, and the elliptical DEA has a larger bending deformation range and higher output force compared with the rectangular DEA and the trapezium DEA. The elliptical DEA can produce a bending deformation of 40\u00b0 and an output force of 37.2 mN at a voltage of 24 kV. The three-finger flexible gripper composed of an elliptical DEA can realize the grasping of a paper cup.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/mi16010107","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,20]],"date-time":"2025-01-20T04:04:12Z","timestamp":1737345852000},"page":"107","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Design of Dielectric Elastomer Actuator and Its Application in Flexible Gripper"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Xiaoyu","family":"Meng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0025-4356","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jiaqing","family":"Xie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Haoran","family":"Pang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenchao","family":"Wei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiping","family":"Niu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8972-9559","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mingqiang","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fang","family":"Gu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaohuan","family":"Fan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Association of Environmental Protecion Industry, Guangzhou 510045, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Haiyan","family":"Fan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zhejiang Sunny Optical Company, Yuyao 315400, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"467","DOI":"10.1038\/nature14543","article-title":"Design, fabrication and control of soft robots","volume":"521","author":"Rus","year":"2015","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1464","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.chemrev.3c00356","article-title":"Soft Sensors and Actuators for Wearable Human\u2013Machine Interfaces","volume":"124","author":"Park","year":"2024","journal-title":"Chem. 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