Textile Actuation Based on In‐Air Actuating Polypyrrole‐Based Tape Yarns for Wearable Soft Robotics: Toward On‐Body ApplicationsShow others and affiliations
2026 (English)In: Advanced Robotics Research, ISSN 2943-9973, article id e202500189Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]
Soft robotics employs deformable materials and structures to achieve compliance and adaptability, enabling safe and close interaction with humans. Merging electromechanically active polymer actuation with textile technology enables soft, large area actuators with form factors being 1D (fibers), 2D (fabrics), or 3D (garments), all relevant for wearable soft robotics. This study investigates in-air actuating polypyrrole (PPy)-based trilayer tape yarns (TYs) and the effect of integrating them into woven fabric actuators. Individual TYs are developed, consisting of two polypyrrole layers sandwiching a poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane filled with anionic liquids (IL). The impact of ionic liquid, PPy thickness, and frequency response on displacement and blocking force is investigated. Individual TYs offer the highest displacement of 30.6 ± 3.6 mm (±1.5 V) at 2.5 mHz and blocking force at 0.20 ± 0.07 mN (±1.0 V, 2.5 mHz). Next, weaving is used to integrate TYs into plain weave actuating fabrics, enabling the assembly of many TYs together without a decrease in displacement. Additive force in woven actuators scales linearly with increased force up to 1.13 ± 0.18 mN (5 TYs), addressed by integrated conductive yarns. Multiarea fabric actuation is demonstrated, as well as an on-body wearable application of the fabric actuator.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Wiley-VCH Verlagsgesellschaft, 2026. article id e202500189
Keywords [en]
conjugated polymers, electromechanically active polymers, in-air actuation, soft actuators, textile fabric actuators
National Category
Textile, Rubber and Polymeric Materials
Research subject
Textiles and Fashion (General)
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-35402DOI: 10.1002/adrr.202500189OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hb-35402DiVA, id: diva2:2047567
Note
Funding: The authors acknowledge the financial support of the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. (825232) “WEAFING” and Erling-Persson Foundation (grant no 2020-00054 and 2023-0092).
2026-03-202026-03-202026-03-23Bibliographically approved