Topic 1. Introduction -- Chapter 1. EAP history, current status, and infrastructure / Yoseph Bar-Cohen -- 1.1. Introduction -- 1.2. Biological muscles -- 1.3. Historical review and currently available active polymers -- 1.4. Polymers with controllable properties or shape -- 1.5. Electroactive polymers (EAP) -- 1.6. The EAP roadmap, need for an established EAP technology -- Infrastructure -- 1.7. Potential -- 1.8. Acknowledgments -- 1.9. References.

Topic 2. Natural muscles -- Chapter 2. Natural muscle as a biological system / Gerald H. Pollack, Felix A. Blyakhman, Frederick B. Reitz, Olga V. Yakovenko, and Dwayne L. Dunaway -- 2.1. Conceptual background -- 2.2. Structural considerations -- 2.3. Does contraction involve a phase transition? -- 2.4. Molecular basis of the phase transition -- 2.5. Lessons from the natural muscle system that may be useful for the design of polymer actuators -- 2.6. References -- Chapter 3. Metrics of natural muscle function / Robert J. Full and Kenneth Meijer -- 3.1. Caution about copying and comparisons -- 3.2. Common characterizations, partial picture -- 3.3. Work-loop method reveals diverse roles of muscle function during rhythmic activity -- 3.4. Direct comparisons of muscle with human-made actuators -- 3.5. Future reciprocal Interdisciplinary collaborations -- 3.6. Acknowledgments -- 3.7. References.

Topic 3. EAP materials -- Topic 3.1. Electric EAP -- Chapter 4. Electric EAP / Qiming Zhang, Cheng Huang, Feng Xia, and Ji Su -- 4.1. Introduction -- 4.2. General terminology of electromechanical effects in electric EAP -- 4.3. PVDF-based ferroelectric polymers -- 4.4. Ferroelectric odd-numbered polyamides (nylons) -- 4.5. Electrostriction -- 4.6. Field-induced strain due to Maxwell stress effect -- 4.7. High dielectric constant polymeric materials as actuator materials -- 4.8. Electrets -- 4.9. Liquid-crystal polymers -- 4.10. Acknowledgments -- 4.11. References.

Topic 3.2. Ionic EAP -- Chapter 5. Electroactive polymer gels / Paul Calvert -- 5.1. Introduction, the gel state -- 5.2. Physical gels -- 5.3. Chemical gels -- 5.4. Thermodynamic properties of gels -- 5.5. Transport properties of gels -- 5.6. Polyelectrolyte gels -- 5.7. Mechanical properties of gels -- 5.8. Chemical actuation of gels -- 5.9. Electrically actuated gels -- 5.10. Recent progress -- 5.11. Future directions -- 5.12. References -- Chapter 6. Ionomeric polymer-metal composites / Sia Nemat-Nasser and Chris W. Thomas -- 6.1. Introduction -- 6.2. Brief history of IPMC materials -- 6.3. Materials and manufacture -- 6.4. Properties and characterization -- 6.5. Actuation mechanism -- 6.6. Development of IPMC applications -- 6.7. Discussion: advantages/disadvantages -- 6.8. Acknowledgments -- 6.9. References -- Chapter 7. Conductive polymers / José-María Sansiñena and Virginia Olazábal -- 7.1. Brief history of conductive polymers -- 7.2. Applications of conductive polymers -- 7.3. Basic mechanism of CP actuators -- 7.4. Development of CP actuators -- 7.5. Advantages and disadvantages of CP actuators -- 7.6. Acknowledgments -- 7.7. References -- Chapter 8. Carbon nanotube actuators: synthesis, properties, and performance / Geoffrey M. Spinks, Gordon G. Wallace, Ray H. Baughman, and Liming Dai -- 8.1. Introduction -- 8.2. Nanotube synthesis -- 8.3. Characterization of carbon nanotubes -- 8.4. Macroscopic nanotube assemblies: mats and fibers -- 8.5. Mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes -- 8.6. Mechanism of nanotube actuation -- 8.7. Experimental studies of carbon nanotube actuators -- 8.8. Conclusions and future developments -- 8.9. References.

Topic 3.3. Molecular EAP -- Chapter 9. Molecular scale electroactive polymers / Michael J. Marsella -- 9.1. Introduction -- 9.2. Intrinsic properties and macroscale translation -- 9.3. Stimulus-induced conformational changes within the single molecule -- 9.4. Final comments -- 9.5. References.

Topic 4. Modeling electroactive polymers -- Chapter 10. Computational chemistry / Kristopher E. Wise -- 10.1. Introduction -- 10.2. Overview of computational methods -- 10.3. Quantum mechanical methods -- 10.4. Classical force field simulations -- 10.5. Mesoscale simulations -- 10.6. References -- Chapter 11. Modeling and analysis of chemistry and electromechanics / Thomas Wallmersperger, Bernd Kröplin, and Rainer W. Gülch -- 11.1. Introduction --11.2. Chemical stimulation -- 11.3. Electrical stimulation -- 11.4. Conclusion -- 11.5. References -- Chapter 12. Electromechanical models for optimal design and effective behavior of electroactive polymers / Kaushik Bhattacharya, Jiangyu Li, and Yu Xiao -- 12.1. Introduction -- 12.2. Introduction to finite elasticity -- 12.3. Optimal design of electrostatic actuators -- 12.4. Models of ionomer actuators -- 12.5. Reduced models -- 12.6. Conclusion -- 12.7. Acknowledgment -- 12.8. References -- Chapter 13. Modeling IPMC for design of actuation mechanisms / Satoshi Tadokoro, Masashi Konyo, and Keisuke Oguro -- 13.1. Models and CAE tools for design of IPMC mechanisms -- 13.2. A physicochemical model considering six phenomena -- 13.3. Gray-box macroscopic model for mechanical and control design -- 13.4. Simulation demonstration by models -- 13.5. Applications of the model -- 13.6. References.

Topic 5. Processing and fabrication of EAPs -- Chapter 14. Processing and fabrication techniques / Yoseph Bar-Cohen, Virginia Olazábal, José-María Sansiñena, and Jeffrey Hinkley -- 14.1. Introduction -- 14.2. Synthesis and material processing -- 14.3. Fabrication and shaping techniques -- 14.4. Electroding techniques -- 14.5. System integration methods -- 14.6. EAP actuators -- 14.7. Concluding remarks -- 14.8. References.

Topic 6. Testing and characterization -- Chapter 15. Methods of testing and characterization / Stewart Sherrit, Xiaoqi Bao, and Yoseph Bar-Cohen -- 15.1. Introduction -- 15.2. Characterization of EAP with polarization-dependent strains -- 15.3. Characterization of ionic EAP with diffusion-dependent strain -- 15.4. Summary of test methods -- 15.5. Conclusion -- 15.6. Acknowledgments -- 15.7. References.

Topic 7. EAP actuators, devices, and mechanisms -- Chapter 16. Application of dielectric elastomer EAP actuators / Roy Kornbluh, Ron Pelrine, Qibing Pei, Marcus Rosenthal, Scott Stanford, Neville Bonwit, Richard Heydt, Harsha Prahlad, and Subramanian V. Shastri -- 16.1. Introduction -- 16.2. Dielectric elastomer EAP, background and basics -- 16.3. Actuator design issues -- 16.4. Operational considerations -- 16.5. Examples of dielectric elastomer EAP actuators and applications -- 16.6. Artificial muscles and applications to biologically inspired devices -- 16.7. General purpose linear actuators -- 16.8. Planar and other actuator configurations -- 16.9. Motors -- 16.10. Generators -- 16.11. Sensors -- 16.12. Summary and future developments -- 16.13. Acknowledgments -- 16.14. References.

Chapter 17. Biologically inspired robots / Brett Kennedy, Chris Melhuish, and Andrew Adamatzky -- 17.1. Introduction -- 17.2. Biologically inspired mechanisms and robots -- 17.3. Aspects of robotic design -- 17.4. Active polymer actuators in a traditional robotic system -- 17.5. Using rapid prototyping methods for integrated design -- 17.6. Evolutionary design algorithms (genetic algorithm design) -- 17.7. EAP actuators in highly integrated microrobot design -- 17.8. Solving the power problem toward energetic autonomy -- 17.9. The future of active polymer actuators and robots -- 17.10. References.

Chapter 18. Applications of EAP to the entertainment industry / David Hanson -- 18.1. Introduction -- 18.2. Entertainment and its shifting significance -- 18.3. Technical background to entertainment application of EAP -- 18.4. The craft of aesthetic biomimesis in entertainment -- 18.5. A recipe for using EAP in entertainment -- 18.6. Facial expression robot-practical test bed for EAP -- 18.7. Conclusion -- 18.8. Acknowledgment -- 18.9. References.

Chapter 19. Haptic interfaces using electrorheological fluids / Constantinos Mavroidis, Yoseph Bar-Cohen, and Mourad Bouzit -- 19.1. Introduction -- 19.2. Electrorheological fluids -- 19.3. Haptic interfaces and electrorheological fluids -- 19.4. MEMICA haptic glove -- 19.5. ECS element model derivation -- 19.6. Parametric analysis of the design of ECS elements -- 19.7. Experimental ECS system and results -- 19.8. Conclusions -- 19.9. Acknowledgments -- 19.10. References.

Chapter 20. Shape control of precision gossamer apertures / Christopher H.M. Jenkins -- 20.1. Introduction -- 20.2. Shape control of PGAs -- 20.3. Shape control methodologies involving electroactive polymers -- 20.4. Conclusions -- 20.5. Nomenclature -- 20.6. Acknowledgments -- 20.7. References.

Topic 8. Lessons learned, applications, and outlook -- Chapter 21. EAP applications, potential, and challenges / Yoseph Bar-Cohen -- 21.1. Introduction -- 21.2. Lesson learned using IPMC and dielectric EAP -- 21.3. Summary of existing EAP materials -- 21.4. Scalability issues and needs -- 21.5. Expected and evolving applications -- 21.6. EAP characterization -- 21.7. Platforms for demonstration of EAP -- 21.8. Future expectations -- 21.9. Acknowledgments -- 21.10. References -- Index.