PED

Within this project a robust soft material energy converter or actuator for highly demandable deep-sea applications is developed. For a simple, lightweight and pressure-tolerant system, soft materials are used which allow designs of integral structures inside an elastic matrix, and can serve as a supporting structure under buoyancy. The focus lies on a new topology for a system, its material composition and modelling of actuation principles. After an evaluation and simulation period of the design and control, this shall lead to an optimal underwater system. This bionically inspired system is than locally tested in the Maritime Exploration Hall of the DFKI Robotics Innovation Center for further optimizations.