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To meet the needs of present-day robotics, a family of gripping flexible fingers has been designed. Each of them consists of a number of independent and flexible modules that can be assembled in different configurations. Each module consists of a body with a flexible central rod and three longitudinally positioned shape memory alloy (SMA) wires. When heated by the Joule effect, one to two SMA wires shorten, allowing the module to bend. The return to undeformed conditions is achieved in calm air and is guaranteed by the elastic bias force exerted by the central rod. This article presents the basic concept of the module and a simple mathematical model for the design of the device. Experimental tests were carried out on three prototypes with bodies made of different materials. The results of these tests confirm the need to reduce the antagonistic action of the inactive SMA wires and led to the realization of a fourth prototype equipped with an additional SMA wire-driven locking/unlocking device for these wires. The preliminary results of this last prototype are encouraging.

Four prototypes of a flexible finger, each made up of three actuator modules based on shape memory alloy (SMA) wires, are experimentally studied in this research. A module is basically composed by few simple components: a plastic body, made of different materials, and SMA wires. The bending of the module is performed with the heating and cooling of the SMA wires and the central rod exerts bias force, necessary to the stretching of the wire to the original shape. To evaluate the actuator workspace different tests were performed, and the results of three prototypes are compared. Finally a more complex prototype in which the antagonist wires can be deactivated during the working cycle was designed and preliminary tests were performed, obtaining encouraging results.

This research concerns the design and prototyping of an artificial middle finger, using Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs), PolyLactic Acid (PLA), and other technologies. The design is a biomimicry of the human biological anatomical and muscular systems. After briefly describing the operational features and functioning of natural striated muscles, the document reviews the features, advantages and disadvantages of SMAs in the perspective of their use as an actuator of a prosthetic finger.Using different design parameters, such as the lightness of the device, actuation complexity, and resilience, a working prototype is proposed meeting the established criteria.

The rational design of smart actuators based on shape memory alloys requires reliable strength data from the thermo-mechanical cycling of the material (functional fatigue). Functional tests results do not abound in the technical literature and the few data available are mostly limited to the condition of constant applied stress, which is hardly achieved in operation. The disagreement between actual working conditions and laboratory conditions leads to suboptimal designs and undermines the prediction of the life of the actuator. To bridge the gap between experiment and reality, this paper envisions four cyclic tests spanning the range of loadings which can occur in practice: constant-stress, constant-strain, constant-stress with limited maximum strain and linear stress–strain cycle. Commercial NiTi wires (0.15 mm diameter) are tested under constant-stress, constant-strain and constant stress with limited maximum strain conditions using a custom machine and the disclosed results are critically discussed.

The availability of engineering strength data on shape memory alloys (SMAs) under cyclic thermal activation (thermomechanical fatigue) is central to the rational design of smart actuators based on these materials. Test results on SMAs under thermomechanical fatigue are scarce in the technical literature, and even the few data that are available are mainly limited to constant-stress loading. Since the SMA elements used within actuators are normally biased by elastic springs or by antagonist SMA elements, their stress states are far from being constant in operation. The mismatch between actual working conditions and laboratory settings leads to suboptimal designs and undermines the prediction of the actuator lifetime. This paper aims at bridging the gap between experiment and reality by completing an experimental campaign involving four fatigue test conditions, which cover most of the typical situations occurring in practice: constant stress, constant-strain, constant stress with limited maximum strain, and linear stress-strain variation with limited maximum strain. The results from the first three test settings, recovered from the previously published works, are critically reviewed and compared with the outcome of the newly performed tests under the fourth arrangement (linear stress-strain variation). General design recommendations emerging from the experimental data are put forward for engineering use.

The availability of engineering strength data on shape memory alloys (SMAs) under cyclic thermal activation (functional fatigue) is central to the rational design of smart actuators based on these materials. Test results on SMAs under functional fatigue are scarce in the technical literature and the few data available are mainly limited to constant-stress loading. Since the SMA elements used within actuators are normally biased by elastic springs or by another SMA element, their stress state is far from constant in operation. The mismatch between actual working conditions and laboratory arrangements leads to suboptimal designs and undermines the prediction of the actuator lifetime. This paper aims at bridging the gap between experiment and reality. Four test procedures are planned, covering most of the typical situations occurring in practice: constant-stress, constant-strain, constant-stress with limited maximum strain and linear stress-strain variation with limited maximum strain. The paper describes the experimental apparatus specifically designed to implement the four loading conditions and presents fatigue results obtained from commercial NiTi wires tested under all those protocols.

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are increasingly used for the construction of simple solid-state actuators characterized by outstanding power density. The rational design of these actuators requires reliable data on the fatigue strength of the alloy under cyclic thermal activation (functional fatigue). The technical literature shows scanty test results for SMAs under functional fatigue. Furthermore, the few data available are mainly limited to the condition of constant stress applied to the material. Sincethe SMA elements used within actuators are normally biased by conventional springs or by another SMA element, their stress condition is far from constant in operation. The disagreement between actual working conditions and laboratory conditions leadsto suboptimal designs and undermines the prediction of the life of the actuator. This paper aims at bridging the gap between experiment and reality. Four characteristic test conditions are envisioned, covering most of the actual situations occurring inpractice: constant-stress, constant-strain, constant-stress with controlled maximum strain and cyclic-stress with controlled maximum strain. The paper presents the experimental apparatus specifically designed to implement the four test conditions. Fatigue results on a commercial NiTi wire (0.15 mm diameter) tested under constant-stress and constant-strain loading are also presented and discussed.

This paper presents the non-linear analysis of a shape memory alloy (SMA) actuated fully compliant spatial parallel mechanism. A compliant mechanism made of SMA wires as its actuators and SMA pipe as its structural member that exploits both the shape memory and superelastic effects is proposed and its static analysis using ANSYS is presented in this study. Finite element analysis in a multi-physics environment considering geometric and material non-linearities helps the user to analyse complex behaviour of a system. For the proposed mechanism, simulation results show: (a) 4 per cent strain for SMA actuation is optimal considering the geometric non-linearity of the proposed mechanism for obtaining maximum displacement; (b) buckling effect is less predominant while implementing the superelastic behaviour; and (c) the mechanism can be designed as a compliant device with one or more inflexion points by exploiting the superelasticity of the SMA pipe. The knowledge obtained from the simulation study could help in further miniaturization of the manipulator.

This experimental study investigates the coupled effect of the force developed by the shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators and the force required for the large deflection of an elastica member in a compliant parallel mechanism. The compliant mechanism developed in house consists of a moving platform mounted on a superelastic pillar and three SMA wire actuators to manipulate the platform. A three-axis MEMS accelerometer has been mounted on the moving platform to measure its tilt angle. Three miniature force sensors have been designed and fabricated out of cantilever beams, each mounted with a pair of strain gauges, to measure the force developed by the respective actuators. The force sensors are highly sensitive and cost effective compared to commercially available miniature force sensors. Calibration of the force sensors has been accomplished with known weights, and for the three-axis MEMS accelerometer a rotary base has been considered which is usually used in optical applications. The calibration curves obtained, with R-squared values between 0.9997 and 1.0, show that both the tilt and force sensors considered are most appropriate for the respective applications. The mechanism fixed with the sensors and the drivers for the SMA actuators is integrated with a National Instrument's data acquisition system. The experimental results have been compared with the analytical results and it was found that the relative error is less than 2%. This is a preliminary study in the development of a mechanism for eye prosthesis and similar applications. � 2008 IOP Publishing Ltd.

In this paper, free vibration response of a hybrid composite plate was studied. Effects of some geometrical, physical and material parameters on response of the composite plates embedded with shape memory alloy (SMA) wires were investigated, which have not been reported in the literature thus far. Some of these parameters included important factors affecting free vibration response of the smart hybrid composite plates. The SMA wires were embedded within the layers of the composite laminate. First-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) was utilized to obtain the governing equations of hybrid composite plates. Transverse shear and rotary inertia effects of the plate were taken into consideration. For simply-supported boundary conditions, systematic closed form solutions were obtained by Navier's technique. It was established that dynamic behavior of the smart hybrid composite plate depended on various parameters such as volume fraction, temperature dependent recovery stress and tensile pre-strain of SMA wires and aspect ratio of the laminated hybrid plate.

This article presents the design and control of a two-link lightweight robotic arm using shape memory alloy wires as actuators. Both a single-wire actuated system and an antagonistic configuration system are tested in open and closed loops. The mathematical model of the shape memory alloy wire, as well as the kinematics and dynamics of the robotic arm, are presented. The operational space control of the robotic arm is performed using a joint space control in the inner loop and closed-loop inverse kinematics in the outer loop. In order to choose the best joint space control approach, a comparative study of four different control approaches (proportional derivative, sliding mode, adaptive, and adaptive sliding mode control) is carried out for the proposed model. From this comparative analysis, the adaptive controller was chosen to perform operational space control. This control helps us to perform accurate positioning of the end-effector of shape memory alloy wire–based robotic arm. The complete operational space control was successfully tested through simulation studies performing position reference tracking in the end-effector space. Through simulation studies, the proposed control solution is successfully verified to control the hysteretic robotic arm.