Fishing Lines-based Artificial Muscles for Robotic Applications

Recently, a new type of artificial muscles has been developed based on nylon twisted yarns and their interesting properties has made their use in different applications as an actuator of interest. In this paper, we first introduce this type of actuators which are thermally activated and then fabrication process and some of the characterization results are presented. These actuators can be used in a wide range of temperatures between -40 to 200°C. Twelve percent strain and high force-to-weight ratio are two important advantages observed in experiments. The capability to work in frequencies higher than 10 Hz in contraction mode makes them suitable for using in different applications.