Wave-Shape Pattern Control of Electroactive Polymer Gel

The effects of mechanical deformation on the chemical reaction have been discussed for self-oscillating gels[198, 199]. The polymer network in the self-oscillating gel takes part in the BZ reaction, when immersed in an aqueous solution containing the reactants. It is because the catalyst is covalently bonded to the polymer chain. The difference between the self-oscillating gel and our study on wave-shape pattern emergence is that the latter in comparison with the former, has more dependence on the interaction between the chemical reaction and the mechanical response. Adsorption reaction alone would not bring out any pattern without the interaction with mechanical response, which is therefore fundamental to wave-shape pattern formation. 

4 Wave-Shape Pattern Control of Electroactive Polymer Gel 

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This chapter was adapted from in part, by permission, M. Otake, Y. Kagami, Y. Ku-niyoshi, M. Inaba, and H. Inoue, Inverse Kinematics of Gel Robots made of Electro-Active Polymer Gel , Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp.3224-3229, 2002 M. Otake, Y. Nakamura, and H. Inoue, Pattern Formation Theory for Electroactive Polymer Gel Robots , Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, pp.2782-2787, 2004 M. Otake, Y. Nakamura, M. Inaba, and H. Inoue. Wave-shape Pattern Control of Electroactive Polymer Gel Robots. Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Experimental Robotics, 1D178, 2004. 

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