Development of a Control System for a SMA Actuated Medical Manipulator

This thesis discusses the development of a digital control system for the operation of a conceptual robotic manipulator for use in minimally invasive surgery. The motion of the manipulator is envisioned to be accomplished with actuators made of Shape Memory Alloy (SMA). SMA has the ability to recover permanent deformation by undergoing a phase transformation. The recovery of the deformation results in motion of the SMA material which can be exploited for useful work. SMA was chosen as the actuator because it can be miniaturized and has a very high power density as compared to conventional actuators. An Actuator Matrix Driver (AMD) board was designed, as part of the digital control system, to power and control the SMA actuators. The matrix configuration of the AMD and the use of Amplitude Modulated Pulsed (AMP) current allows for a reduction in the number of leads for the powering and control of the actuators. The electrical resistance, a physical property of SMA which characteristically changes with phase transformation, can be used to determine the state or phase of the SMA actuators and can therefore be used for closed loop control.Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA is the author of 'Development of a Control System for a SMA Actuated Medical Manipulator', published 1997 under ISBN 9781423564843 and ISBN 1423564847.