Mechanical design of a 3-dof parallel robot actuated by smart wires

Abstract

In this paper the design of the kinematics, the device elements and the drivers of a 3-dof (degrees of freedom) robot driven by smart wires is presented. The wires are made by a shape memory alloy (SMA) and have a diameter of 0.15 mm. This robot has a parallel structure including a fixed plate and a moving plate. The plates are linked together by 3 SMA wires and a mechanical spring is located in the central part. Possible applications are the control devices to orient a mirror, a sample under a microscope or to orient the head of a micro snake like robot. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009.