Experimental study of a flexible and environmentally stable electroadhesive device

Electroadhesion is a promising adhesion mechanism for robotics and material handling applications due to several distinctive advantages it has over existing technologies. These advantages include enhanced adaptability, gentle/flexible handling, reduced complexity, and ultralow energy consumption. Unstable electroadhesive forces, however, can arise in ambient environments. Electroadhesive devices that can produce stable forces in changing environments are thus desirable. In this study, a flexible and environmentally stable electroadhesive device was designed and manufactured by conformally coating a layer of barium titanate dielectric on a chemically etched thin copper laminate. The results, obtained from an advanced electroadhesive “normal force” testing platform, show that only a relative difference of 5.94% in the normal force direction was observed. This was achieved when the relative humidity changed from 25% to 53%, temperature from 13.7 �C to 32.8 �C, and atmospheric pressure from 999 hPa to 1016.9 hPa. This environmentally stable electroadhesive device may promote the application of the electroadhesion technology.