DESIGN AND MOTION ANALYSIS OF THE HUMANOID FINGER DRIVEN BY TWISTED AND COILED POLYMER ARTIFICIAL MUSCLES^1)

As a new kind of actuator, the twisted and coiled polymer (TCP) artificial muscle has a broad application prospect in the field of flexible actuation due to its good flexibility, versatility and high efficiency. In this paper, a model of multi-degree-of-freedom humanoid finger driven by TCP artificial muscle is proposed. The physical model of heat-driven artificial muscle is also established, which realizes the control and motion analysis of the multi-joint deflection of the humanoid finger. The results show that the contraction of artificial muscle increases non-linearly with the increase of temperature. The joint deflection of the humanoid finger increases with the increase of temperature or muscle contraction. The proposed multi-freedom finger model lays a foundation for its application in the field of manipulator.