Host: The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
Name : [in Japanese]
Date : June 05, 2019 - June 08, 2019
Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) is an excellent actuator for small robots due to its miniaturization adaptability and large deformation. By applying SMA to joints of small walking robots, mobility of the robots can be expanded. The response characteristics of SMA depend on its phase change by heating / cooling. In the SMA heating, its response time becomes faster by supplying higher heating power. In contrast when the SMA cooling, a forced cooling mechanism is required for becoming the response time faster.In this study, we propose "the movable heat sink cooling mechanism" as a compact mechanism which can achieve the arbitrary control of the cooling timing. The proposed mechanism was applied to a walking robot whose joints were driven by SMA, and it was demonstrated that its response characteristics were improved.
