This paper presents a low-profile bidirectional folding actuator based on annealed shape memory alloy sheets applicable for mesoand microscale systems. Despite the advantages of shape memory alloys—high strain, silent operation, and mechanical simplicity—their application is often limited to unidirectional operation. We present a bidirectional folding actuator that produces two opposing 180 mot...

The optimization of trajectories and actuator torques for a dual arm manipulation system is considered. Given the starting and nal conngurations, we nd the trajectories that minimize (a) the integral of the norm of the vector of derivatives of the actuator forces; and (b) the integral of the norm of the actuator forces. In this way both kinematic and actuator redundancy are resolved. The optimi...

This paper deals with a recently developed actuator based on piezoelectric bimorphs which are useful for ASAC applications. The actuator takes the form of two channels with pairs of bimorphs. Each of the bimorph transducers in the couple is connected separately so that the actuator can act in both moment and force configurations simultaneously. The control algorithm allows the ratio between the...

When investigating limits of rotor aerodynamic models, the Betz limit serves as a solid marker of an upper limit which no model should be able to exceed. A century ago Joukowsky (1912) proposed a rotor aerodynamic model utilizing a rotating actuator disc with a constant circulation. This model has since then been the subject of much controversy as it predicts a power performance that for all ti...

This paper presents a new type of muscle-like actuator, namely double-acting (DA) sleeve muscle actuator, which is suitable for the actuation of biologically-inspired and biomedical robotic systems, especially those serving human-assistance purposes (prostheses, orthoses, etc.). Developed based on the traditional pneumatic muscle actuator, the new DA sleeve muscle incorporates a unique insert a...

This paper presentsan adaptive actuator failure compensation method, which compensates for uncertainties due to unknown actuator failures for redundant manipulator systems. The method is first developed for manipulators whose joints are concurrently actuated. While physical realization of concurrently actuated manipulators and the advantages of their use have been understood before, in this pap...

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A linear piezoelectric actuator based on the stick-slip principle is presented and tested in this paper. With the help of changeable vertical preload force flexure hinge, the designed linear actuator can achieve both large travel stick-slip motion and high-resolution stepping displacement. The developed actuator mainly consists of a bridge-type flexure hinge mechanism, a compound parallelogram ...

Development of biomimetic actuators has been an essential motivation in the study of smart materials. However, few materials are capable of controlling complex twisting and bending deformations simultaneously or separately using a dynamic control system. Here, we report an ionic polymer-metal composite actuator having multiple-shape memory effect, and is able to perform complex motion by two ex...

Simultaneous state and parameter estimation based actuator fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) for single-rotor unmanned helicopters (UHs) is investigated in this paper. A literature review of actuator FDD for UHs is given firstly. Based on actuator healthy coefficients (AHCs), which are introduced to represent actuator faults, a combined dynamic model is established with the augmented state co...