Locomotive mechanism design and fabrication of biomimetic micro robot using shape memory alloy

Abstract

Recently, micro robots have been applied in various industrial areas. Some of them are requested to be able to move in small space or rough environment that people cannot reach. It is necessary to have a capability to move at even overturned and adapt simple mechanism to fabricate it easily with small size. In this paper, a novel bio-mimetic micro robot with simple mechanism using shape memory alloy (SMA) is introduced to generate earthworm-like locomotive motion. There have been many kinds of mobile micro robot using the SMA. However, these actuators generally require electric cable for power supply, which might have an adverse effect on the mobility of the micro robot The proposed micro robot system is composed of an actuator with SMA spring and silicone bellows, wireless control system, wireless power supply (battery) and body frames. The robot is also analyzed to customize required specifications. After the design and experiment, we find out that the micro robot can move a wireless free motion and be fabricated easily. Like an earthworm, the robot can travel on uneven, slippery and flexible environment.