EuroEAP - International Conference on Soft Transducers and Electromechanically Active Polymers

The 21st century is experiencing a paradigm change from the age of passive synthetic materials to the age of stimuli-responsive and multi-functional materials. Among them, Soft Transducers and Electromechanically Active Materials represent a fast growing scientific field of research and development.

They consist of soft polymeric materials, devices or systems that can convert, react or adapt to an external stimulus (such as electrical, magnetic, electromagnetic, mechanical, pneumatic, thermal or chemical) and transduce it into a different form of energy, exhibiting changes (e.g. in terms of shape, size, force, stiffness, surface texture, polarization, colour, etc.), which can be used for diverse needs, including actuation, sensing and energy harvesting.

Their numerous and different working principles, as well as their use in practical applications, make this research field inherently and highly interdisciplinary, bridging the gap between chemistry and physics of materials, modelling, electrical and mechanical engineering, manufacturing and user interface science.

These materials and technologies will play an increasingly important role in the future, thanks to their unique combination of stimuli-responsiveness and soft structure. They are already opening numerous possibilities of application in various fields, such as soft robotics, energy harvesting, biomedical devices, human-machine interaction, wearables and smart textiles (to name a few), which so far have been unachievable with conventional and stiff transduction technologies.

The EuroEAP international conference, organized by the EuroEAP Society with a not-for-profit distinctive character and always held in Europe, in charming and easy-to-reach locations, is primarily aimed at sharing and disseminating the latest advances and findings in this emerging field. It gathers experts from all over the world in a highly multidisciplinary event, driven by scientific quality and industrial impact, with an organisation and daily schedule that enable significant opportunities for one-to-one discussions, in a friendly atmosphere.

Since 2011, the conference has been focused on Electromechanically Active Polymers. Today, the event expands its scope to the larger international and diverse research community of soft smart materials and soft transducers.

The conference topics cover any aspects of the whole chain from chemistry of materials to integrated devices and products, including:

• Development of actuation, sensing and energy harvesting devices based on smart soft materials and transducers, including (but not limited to) polymer gels, ionic polymer metal composites, conducting polymers, carbon nanotubes, piezoelectric polymers, electrostrictive polymers, pyroelectric polymers, dielectric elastomers, electret materials, magnetic materials, light-responsive polymers, liquid crystal elastomers, phase-change materials, shape memory materials, liquid metals, pneumatic actuators and electrostatic transducers.
• Novel stimuli-responsive materials
• Design, manufacturing, characterisation and testing of new devices for various fields of application, including soft robotics, haptics, mechatronics, optics, acoustics, energy harvesting, biomedical systems, smart textiles and wearables;
• Modeling, simulation and control of devices and systems;
• Development and validation of applications.