The investigation of the optimal load weight during driving in fishing-line artificial muscle actuator

Abstract

A fishing-line artificial muscle, which is made from a polymer fiber, contracts by heating under load weight. The amount of contraction depends on the size of the load weight. In this paper, we investigate the optimum load weight by which the largest contraction of a fishing-line artificial muscle exhibits. In the experiment, self-coiled type and mandrel type artificial muscles are tested. Different results depending on the types of actuators and on evaluation criteria are observed.