Miniaturized Rotary Actuators Using Shape Memory Alloy for Insect-Type MEMS Microrobot
by
Ken Saito 1,*, Kei Iwata 2,†, Yuki Ishihara 2,†, Kazuki Sugita 2,†, Minami Takato 1 and Fumio Uchikoba 1
Ken Saito 1,*, Kei Iwata 2,†, Yuki Ishihara 2,†, Kazuki Sugita 2,†, Minami Takato 1 and Fumio Uchikoba 1
1
Department of Precision Machinery Engineering, College of Science and Technology, Nihon University, 7-24-1 Narashinodai, Funabashi-shi, Chiba 274-8501, Japan
2
Precision Machinery Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Nihon University, 1-8-14 Kanda Surugadai, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-8308, Japan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Academic Editors: Toshio Fukuda, Mohd Ridzuan bin Ahmad and Yajing Shen
Micromachines 2016, 7(4), 58; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi7040058
Received: 16 January 2016 / Revised: 22 March 2016 / Accepted: 28 March 2016 / Published: 31 March 2016
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro/Nano Robotics)
Although several types of locomotive microrobots have been developed, most of them have difficulty locomoting on uneven surfaces. Thus, we have been focused on microrobots that can locomote using step patterns. We are studying insect-type microrobot systems. The locomotion of the microrobot is generated by rotational movements of the shape memory alloy-type rotary actuator. In addition, we have constructed artificial neural networks by using analog integrated circuit (IC) technology. The artificial neural networks can output the driving waveform without using software programs. The shape memory alloy-type rotary actuator and the artificial neural networks are constructed with silicon wafers; they can be integrated by using micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) technology. As a result, the MEMS microrobot system can locomote using step patterns. The insect-type MEMS microrobot system is 0.079 g in weight and less than 5.0 mm in size, and its locomotion speed is 2 mm/min. The locomotion speed is slow because the heat of the shape memory alloy conducts to the mechanical parts of the MEMS microrobot. In this paper, we discuss a new rotary actuator compared with the previous model and show the continuous rotation of the proposed rotary actuator.
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Keywords:
microrobot; rotary actuator; shape memory alloy; artificial neural networks; MEMS; heat conduction
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MDPI and ACS Style
Saito, K.; Iwata, K.; Ishihara, Y.; Sugita, K.; Takato, M.; Uchikoba, F. Miniaturized Rotary Actuators Using Shape Memory Alloy for Insect-Type MEMS Microrobot. Micromachines 2016, 7, 58.
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