Soft Robotics is a new and exciting field. With increased flexibility, robots can easily interface with humans and improve quality of life through untapped technology. A DEA works by transferring electric energy into mechanical work. This technology relies on the relationship between stress and strain in different elastomers. All elastomers differ in the amount it will deflect given a prescribed stress. A DEA uses this relationship by applying electrical energy through the elastomer to reduce the internal stress of the elastomer causing the strain of the materials to change. Using this knowledge, the people involved in ShapeShift sandwiched carbon powder between two different elastomers. One elastomer was initial pre-strained prior to be attached to the assembly. As a result, the pre-stretch (stress) will be reduced as electricity is applied. Thus, the the strain will relax and the shape changes.

I appreciate this project for is novelty. The team that created ShapeShift created something beautiful out of cutting edge technology. Elastomers are not well understood, making it difficult to predict their behavior. Advanced modeling, such as a Ogden Model, can be used for some elastomers, but this often does not suffice. Thus, an additional layer of complexity is added to this project.