An Inchworm Robot with Self-Healing Ability Using SMA Actuators

Abstract

In this paper, we propose an inchworm-type soft robot using a self-healing gel as its body and shape-memory alloy (SMA) wires as its actuators. To realize inchworm-like locomotion, two coiled SMA wires are placed in parallel in the gel-fabricated body. The bottom-side wire and the upper-side wire reciprocally bend by applying electric current to the actuators. To realize the self-restoration automatically, the robot consists of a self-healing body equipped with magnets. The paper introduces the structure of the inchworm-shaped robot with its inchworm-like locomotion performance, together with the self-healing function.