Design of the shape memory alloy coil spring actuator for the soft deformable wheel robot

Abstract

The shape memory alloy (SMA) is the one of the large deformable materials. Furthermore, the unique shape recovery characteristic is suitable for a small scale actuator. In this paper, the design procedure of the SMA coil spring actuator is described for the soft deformable wheel robot. The coil spring type of SMA has more actuation stoke than wire. The modeling of the SMA coil spring actuator is described. The segmented soft deformable wheel robot is fabricated by the polymer film and the hard paper. Sequential activation of the SMA coil actuator produces the caterpillar like locomotion of the soft deformable wheel robot.