A proposal of a SMA actuated wing mechanism using flexible structure for the capability of various flow speeds

This paper proposed a concept of flexible wing-mechanism for the underwater fishlike robots. The proposed system consists of a fishlike body and a pair of flexible wing. The flexible wing mechanism utilizes a Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuator to realize small and lightweight system with high output/weight ratio. The SMA actuator can be controlled to adjust the shape. In the flow of water, shape of the wings is controlled and then the fluid resistance will be changed. Then, we can control the posture of the robot. The wing mechanism is constructed mainly from flexible materials. Thus, range of the fluid resistance becomes different between the high speed flow and low speed flow. In the fast flow condition, flexible wing mechanism is compressed and the range of the shape control becomes low. Then, the mechanism can control the posture of the robot under the various flow speeds.