Design and Development of a Novel SMA Actuated Multi-DOF Soft Robot

Conventional robots have shown good positioning accuracy and reliability in multiple environments. However, the robots' lack of flexibility makes them unsuitable for application in certain areas. Thus, a soft robotic system should be considered due to its adaptivity and flexibility. This paper proposes a novel shape memory alloy (SMA)-actuated multiple degrees of freedom (DOF) soft robot, which theoretically supports a maximum of nine-DOF movement and good positioning accuracy. A motion test and positioning evaluation are conducted for the proposed multi-DOF soft robot. The structural design, control method, and analysis of the kinematics and the coordinate system are also given.