We are currently living in an extraordinary period of planetary exploration, where robots have been sent to space due to its inhabitable conditions. However, traditional rigid robots have finite degrees of freedom which limits its mobility in getting through crevice opening thus limiting the surface explored on the planet. Inspired by living organisms, the emergence of soft robots are the next evolution in the field of robotics. Its flexibility and having almost infinite degrees of freedom, brings many advantages compared to rigid-component robots, thus, making it an excellent candidate for unstructured and isolated environment. One long-standing challenge faced by soft robots are its low power density soft actuators. Dubbed artificial muscles, dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs), a class of electroactive polymers, possesses high power density, large strain, and quick response which is in par with biological muscles. However, DEAs require high actuation voltage typically in the range of kilovolts and bulky kilovolts supplies limits DEA-based robots in terms of speed and performance. In this work, we will investigate the fabrication and development of soft robot, based on low voltage DEAs using Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWCNTs) as compliant electrodes to develop a fault and radiation tolerant robot that is capable of operating under the harsh Martian and / or Lunar environment. With these capabilities, the finalised soft robot will be more adaptive, resilient and provide advantageous features of reduction in size, quick response, low cost and suitable for unstructured terrains, thus, improving the current technology on planetary robots and ultimately open new ways of using bio-inspired soft robots for planetary exploration.
