Portability and antagonistic stiffness control for an shape memory alloy artificial muscle actuator protected by a rolled film tube

Abstract

Recently, improvements in robots with human affinity have become necessary. Such robots need artificial muscles that are similar to human muscles. This improvement can be achieved by designing a telescopic actuator comparable to that of a human muscle cell. We studied a shape memory alloy actuator protected by a rolled film tube. In this study, the actuator was inserted into a natural rubber tube for portability. We investigated the fundamental characteristics of the actuator and experimented with its antagonistic stiffness control.