DESIGN OF A NOVEL SMA-ACTUATED ANTHROPOMORPHIC GRIPPER

Yang Kai - Gu Chenglin

   An active robot finger 10 mm in outer diameter with a shape memory alloy (SMA) wire actuator embedded to the finger with a constant distance from the geometric center of the finger was designed and fabricated. The active finger consists of two bending parts, SMA actuators, and a connecting part. The practical specifications of the SMA wire and the flexible rod were determined based on a series of formulae. The mechanical properties of the bending part are also investigated. Finally, we design a robot hand using three fingers, and the grasping experiment was carried out to prove the hand works well.

Keywords: SMA, SMA actuator, flexible rod, robot hand, grasping

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