The Development of a Venus Flytrap Inspired Soft Robot Driven by IPMC

In recent years, more and more creatures in nature have become the source of inspiration for people to study bionic soft robots. Many such robots appear in the public’s vision. In this paper, a Venus flytrap robot similar to the biological Venus flytrap in appearance was designed and prepared. It was mainly cast by Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMs) and driven by the flexible material of Ionic Polymer Metal Composites (IPMCs). Combining with ANSYS and related experiments, the appropriate voltage and the size of IPMC were determined. The results showed that the performance of the Venus flytrap robot was the closest to the biological Venus flytrap when the size of IPMC length, width and driving voltage reach to 3 cm, 1 cm and 5.5 V, respectively. Moreover, the closing speed and angle reached 8.22°/s and 37°, respectively. Finally, the fly traps also could be opened and closed repeatedly and captured a small ball with a mass of 0.3 g firmly in its middle and tip.