Abstract—Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) wires are currently employed in robotics, as well as in actuators for various fields such as prosthetic limbs, medical equipments and snake robot where they can be a good alternative to traditional actuators. SMA wires are particularly suitable for small devices with simple design and high power-to-weight ratio and also an optimum solution when employed as sensors and actuators at the same time. In this paper, a new mechanism has been designed and provided for a snake robot by using properties of SMA actuators. The designed plant robot has 3 links, 2 revolute joints, 2 SMA wires in order to adduction links of robot and 2 torsional springs to restore links of robot in original position. Differential equations of motion are derived using Euler’s equations and then combined with constitutive equations of SMAs. The robot model is simulated in MATLAB/Simulation. Finally, dynamic behavior of robot is studied under different inputs and effect of various parameters such as spring coefficient and length of wires on system performance is shown.
Index Terms—Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) wires are currently employed in robotics, as well as in actuators for various fields such as prosthetic limbs, medical equipments and snake robot where they can be a good alternative to traditional actuators. SMA wires are particularly suitable for small devices with simple design and high power-to-weight ratio and also an optimum solution when employed as sensors and actuators at the same time. In this paper, a new mechanism has been designed and provided for a snake robot by using properties of SMA actuators. The designed plant robot has 3 links, 2 revolute joints, 2 SMA wires in order to adduction links of robot and 2 torsional springs to restore links of robot in original position. Differential equations of motion are derived using Euler’s equations and then combined with constitutive equations of SMAs. The robot model is simulated in MATLAB/Simulation. Finally, dynamic behavior of robot is studied under different inputs and effect of various parameters such as spring coefficient and length of wires on system performance is shown.
M. M. Kheirikhah is with the Faculty of Industrial and Mechanical
Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin Branch, Qazvin, Iran (e-mail:
kheirikhah@qiau.ac.ir).
A. Khodayari, is with Islamic Azad University, Pardis Branch, Tehran,
Iran (e-mail: khodayari@pardisiau.ac.ir).
S. Rabiee is with the Islamic Azad University, Qazvin Branch, and
Qazvin, Iran (e-mail: rabiee@qiau.ac.ir).
Cite: M. M. Kheirikhah, A. Khodayari and S. Rabiee, "Design and Dynamic Simulation of a New SMA Actuated Snake Robot," International Journal of Modeling and Optimization vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 340-347, 2011.
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