Systems and methods for actuating pillows including actuating muscles

1. An actuating pillow comprising:

a pillow body;

a plurality of artificial muscles enclosed within the pillow body in a zigzag configuration, the zigzag configuration defines a first subset of the plurality of artificial muscles provided proximate a front end of the pillow body, and a second subset of the plurality of artificial muscles provided proximate a rear end of the pillow body opposite the front end of the pillow body, the second subset of the plurality of artificial muscles including a greater number of artificial muscles than the first subset of the plurality of artificial muscles, each of the plurality of artificial muscles comprises:

a housing comprising an electrode region and an adjacent expandable fluid region;

an electrode pair positioned in the electrode region of the housing; and

a dielectric fluid housed within the housing,

wherein the plurality of artificial muscles are configured to actuate from a non-actuated state to an actuated state, actuation from the non-actuated state to the actuated state directs the dielectric fluid into the expandable fluid region and increases a height of the pillow body.

2. The actuating pillow of claim 1 , further comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:

determine a position of a force on the pillow body;

determine a length of time the force is present; and

when the length of time the force is present exceeds an actuation threshold, actuate the electrode pair of at least one of the plurality of artificial muscles from the non-actuated state to the actuated state, and actuate at least one of the plurality of artificial muscles from the actuated state to the non-actuated state.

3. The actuating pillow of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of artificial muscles comprises:

a first artificial muscle assembly including at least one artificial muscle positioned proximate a first side end of the pillow body; and

a second artificial muscle assembly including at least one artificial muscle positioned proximate a second side end of the pillow body opposite the first side end.

4. The actuating pillow of claim 3 , wherein the at least one artificial muscle of the first artificial muscle assembly is positioned in a stacked arrangement proximate the first side end of the pillow body and the at least one artificial muscle of the second artificial muscle assembly is positioned in a stacked arrangement proximate the second side end of the pillow body.

5. The actuating pillow of claim 3 , wherein the at least one artificial muscle of the first artificial muscle assembly and the at least one artificial muscle of the second artificial muscle assembly alternate between the non-actuated state and the actuated state to alternatively raise and lower the first side end and the second side end of the pillow body relative to one another.

6. The actuating pillow of claim 2 , further comprising a head position detector including a pressure sensor provided in the pillow body for determining the position of the force on the pillow body.

7. The actuating pillow of claim 6 , wherein the head position detector includes a timer module for determining a length of time the force is present, the timer module is reset when the force is reduced by an amount exceeding a reset pressure threshold and the force is reduced for a length of time exceeding a reset time threshold.

8. The actuating pillow of claim 1 , wherein the electrode pair of each artificial muscle comprises:

a first electrode fixed to a first surface of the housing and a second electrode fixed to a second surface of the housing, wherein:

the first electrode and the second electrode each comprises two or more tab portions and two or more bridge portions, wherein:

each bridge portion interconnects adjacent tab portions; and

at least one of the first electrode and the second electrode comprises a central opening positioned between the two or more tab portions and is encircled around the expandable fluid region.

9. The actuating pillow of claim 8 , further comprising:

a first electrical insulator layer fixed to an inner surface of the first electrode opposite the first surface of the housing; and

a second electrical insulator layer fixed to an inner surface of the second electrode opposite the second surface of the housing,

wherein the first electrical insulator layer and the second electrical insulator layer each includes an adhesive surface and an opposite non-sealable surface.

10. The actuating pillow of claim 8 , wherein the first electrode and the second electrode each includes two pairs of tab portions and two pairs of bridge portions, each bridge portion interconnecting adjacent a pair of adjacent tab portions, each tab portion diametrically opposing an opposite tab portion.

11. The actuating pillow of claim 8 , wherein each tab portion has a tab length and each bridge portion has a bridge length extending radially from the central opening, the bridge length being 20% to 50% of the tab length.

12. A vehicle seat system comprising:

a vehicle seat including a head portion having a forward-facing surface;

a pillow body coupled to the forward-facing surface of the head portion of the vehicle seat;

a plurality of artificial muscles enclosed within the pillow body in a zigzag configuration, the zigzag configuration defines a first subset of the plurality of artificial muscles provided proximate a front end of the pillow body, and a second subset of the plurality of artificial muscles provided proximate a rear end of the pillow body opposite the front end of the pillow body, the second subset of the plurality of artificial muscles including a greater number of artificial muscles than the first subset of the plurality of artificial muscles, each of the plurality of artificial muscles comprises:

a housing comprising an electrode region and an adjacent expandable fluid region;

an electrode pair positioned in the electrode region of the housing; and

a dielectric fluid housed within the housing,

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:

determine a position of a force on the pillow body;

determine a length of time the force is present; and

when the length of time the force is present exceeds an actuation threshold, actuate the electrode pair of at least one of the plurality of artificial muscles from a non-actuated state to an actuated state, and actuate at least one of the plurality of artificial muscles from the actuated state to the non-actuated state, actuation from the non-actuated state to the actuated state directs the dielectric fluid into the expandable fluid region and increases a height of the pillow body.

13. The vehicle seat system of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of artificial muscles comprises:

a first artificial muscle assembly including at least one artificial muscle positioned proximate a first side end of the pillow body; and

a second artificial muscle assembly including at least one artificial muscle positioned proximate a second side end of the pillow body opposite the first side end.

14. The vehicle seat system of claim 13 , wherein the at least one artificial muscle of the first artificial muscle assembly is positioned in a stacked arrangement proximate the first side end of the pillow body and the at least one artificial muscle of the second artificial muscle assembly is positioned in a stacked arrangement proximate the second side end of the pillow body.

15. The vehicle seat system of claim 13 , wherein the at least one artificial muscle of the first artificial muscle assembly and the at least one artificial muscle of the second artificial muscle assembly alternate between the non-actuated state and the actuated state to alternatively raise and lower the first side end and the second side end of the pillow body relative to one another.

16. The vehicle seat system of claim 12 , further comprises a head position detector including a pressure sensor provided in the pillow body for determining the position of the force on the pillow body.

17. A method for actuating an actuating pillow, the method comprising:

generating a voltage using a power supply electrically coupled to an actuating pillow, the actuating pillow comprising:

a pillow body; and

a plurality of artificial muscles arranged within the pillow body in a zigzag configuration, the zigzag configuration defines a first subset of the plurality of artificial muscles provided proximate a front end of the pillow body, and a second subset of the plurality of artificial muscles provided proximate a rear end of the pillow body opposite the front end of the pillow body, the second subset of the plurality of artificial muscles including a greater number of artificial muscles than the first subset of the plurality of artificial muscles, each of the plurality of artificial muscles comprises:

a housing comprising an electrode region and an adjacent expandable fluid region;

an electrode pair positioned in the electrode region of the housing; and

a dielectric fluid housed within the housing,

wherein actuating the electrode pair of the plurality of artificial muscles from the non-actuated state to the actuated state directs the dielectric fluid into the expandable fluid region of the housing expanding the expandable fluid region and increases a height of the pillow body.

18. The method for actuating an actuating pillow of claim 17 , further comprising:

positioning a first artificial muscle assembly including at least one artificial muscle proximate a first side end of the pillow body; and

positioning a second artificial muscle assembly including at least one artificial muscle proximate a second side end of the pillow body opposite the first side end.

19. The method for actuating an actuating pillow of claim 18 , further comprising:

positioning the at least one artificial muscle of the first artificial muscle assembly in a stacked arrangement proximate the first side end of the pillow body; and

positioning the at least one artificial muscle of the second artificial muscle assembly in a stacked arrangement proximate the second side end of the pillow body.

20. The method for actuating an actuating pillow of claim 19 , wherein the first side end of the pillow body has a height greater than a height of the second side end of the pillow body when the at least one artificial muscle of the first artificial muscle assembly is in the actuated state and the at least one artificial muscle of the second artificial muscle assembly is in the non-actuated state.