Modeling of Viscoelastic Liquid Crystal Elastomer Actuators
Hao Wang, Yiqun Xu, Fei Xiao, Zhipeng Xu, Jisen Li, Qiguang He, Jian Zhu
Abstract
Soft robots and smart materials have seen rapid advancements in recent years, with significant potential applications in medical devices. Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) exhibit unique attributes of large deformations and diverse actuation modes, facilitating controllable bending in soft medical catheters and thereby enhancing their maneuverability during medical procedures. However, LCEs exhibit strong hysteresis, which makes their modeling and control challenging. In this paper, we develop a dynamic model of a light-stimulated LCE to describe its nonlinear time-dependent behavior. We first derive the relationship between the input laser power and the resulting temperature change of the LCE actuator, and then analyze the viscoelastic behavior by taking advantage of a spring-dashpot frame. For both the linear contraction actuator and the bending actuator, the dynamic equations can describe their behavior with acceptable errors. In the future, we will further test the LCE-based bending actuator of optimal design, and then perform real-time control of soft catheters with assistance of LCE actuators.
BibTeX
@inproceedings{iros2025_modelingofviscoe,
title = {Modeling of Viscoelastic Liquid Crystal Elastomer Actuators},
author = {Hao Wang and Yiqun Xu and Fei Xiao and Zhipeng Xu and Jisen Li and Qiguang He and Jian Zhu},
booktitle = {IROS 2025},
year = {2025}
}