title: Contractile wire biomechanical actuators.
abstract: Several metal alloys have been discovered which, when fabricated into wire, contract strongly when heated and relax with cooling. The contractile force can be modulated under microcomputer control to produce a compact, powerful and durable mechanical actuator. This technique has a number of advantages over motor-driven servos in robotics and medicine. This paper reviews previous applications of contractile wire, then presents two types of biomechanical actuators built by the author.
authors.affiliation: A Working Hypothesis, Inc., Houston, TX 77282.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Frenger
mesh_terms: D000497:Alloys / Q000737:chemistry*; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D004548:Elasticity; D012371:Robotics; D014783:Viscosity
chemical_list: D000497:Alloys