A New 1-mg Fast Unimorph SMA-Based Actuator for Microrobotics
Conor K. Trygstad,Xuan-Truc Nguyen,Néstor O. Pérez-Arancibia,Conor K. Trygstad,Xuan-Truc Nguyen,Néstor O. Pérez-Arancibia
We present a new unimorph actuator for micro-robotics, which is driven by thin shape-memory alloy (SMA) wires. Using a passive-capillary-alignment technique and existing SMA-microsystem fabrication methods, we developed an actuator that is 7 mm long, has a volume of 0.45 mm3, weighs 0.96 mg, and can achieve operation frequencies of up to 40 Hz as well as lift 155 times its own weight. To demonstra...
