Smart materials capable of changing their characteristics in response to stimuli such as light, heat, pH, and electric and magnetic fields are promising for application to flexible electronics, soft robotics, and biomedicine. Compared with conventional rigid materials, these materials are typically composed of soft materials that improve the biocompatibility and allow for large and dynamic deformations in response to external environmental stimuli. Among them, smart magnetic materials are attracting immense attention owing to their fast response, remote actuation, and wide penetration range under various conditions. In this review, we report the material design and fabrication of smart magnetic materials. Furthermore, we focus on recent advances in their typical applications, namely, soft magnetic actuators, sensors for self-assembly, object manipulation, shape transformation, multimodal robot actuation, and tactile sensing.

In this study, TbDyFe thin films with the thickness of 1000 Å are fabricated by DC magnetron sputtering. TbDyFe thin films are prepared by DC magnetron sputtering method. The pressure of Ar gas below 1.33 kPa and DC input power of 200 W are used for the sputtering conditions. During sputtering process the substrate holder is heated up to 150 ℃. The thin films are deposited to a thickness of 1000 Å on polyimide substrate with a thickness of 2 μm. The fabricated microstructures are observed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the film thickness is measured. Magnetostrictions are determined from the curvature of the thin films which are measured by the optical cantilever method. The experimental results are discussed with numerical data.

Pneumatic cylinder actuators are significantly utilized for industry automatic systems in the fields of mechanical applications. We propose a novel control method for pneumatic cylinder actuator systems including stochastic friction dynamics. The proposed control mechanism is linearly composed of nominal control and auxiliary control variables. The former is designed from linear system model without friction terms by using a previous linear system theory and the latter is constructed as a function of friction estimation which is carried out by a well-known least square algorithm for reducing the control error due to random friction dynamics. We accomplish numerical simulation to demonstrate reliability of the proposed control method and conduct a comparative study to improve its superiority.

This paper presents new type magnetostrictive optical systems. The suggested wireless optical systems are developed by using two types of magnetostrictive thin film actuators. The first is a seesaw type wireless-controlled compact optical switch, and another is a comb type TbDyFeNi thin film actuator by silicon micromachining techniques with DC magnetron sputtering. In the seesaw type, TbDyFe films are selectively deposited on the micromachined switch matrix. For the optical switching operation, switch is arranged in a 1×2 array (mirror size of 5mm × 800μm × 50μm) and has different length from the supporting point. Mirrors are also actuated by externally applied magnetic fields up to 0.5T. In the comb type, the effect of Ni content on the magneto-mechanical properties of the Tb0.24Dy0.76Fe2 system is investigated with the effect of deposited film thickness of TbDyFeNi on silicon substrate for wireless microactuator. As results, magneto-mechanical characteristics are investigated. using magnetization and deflected angle variation

본 연구에서는 판형태의 압전감지기와 압전작동기가 접착되어 있는 보형태의 스마트구조물의 자유진동제어에 대한 유한요소모형화 방법을 제안한다. 압전재료의 직접압전효과와 역압전효과에 대한 구성방정식을 고려하고 변분원리를 이용하여 스마트보유한요소의 운동방정식을 유도한다. 이러한 2절점 보 유한요소근 등매개변수요소로서 Timoshenko 보이론을 기초로 한다. 따라서, 보형태의 스마트구조물을 제안하는 스마트보 유한요소에 의하여 해석함으로써 전압이 작용되는 압전작동기에 의한 구조물의 제어와 전압을 측정하는 압전감지기에 의한 구조물의 모니터링에 대한 수치적인 시뮬레이션이 가능해진다 이러한 스마트보유한요소와 Constant-gain feed back control 기법을 이용하여 압전감지기와 압전작동기를 이용한 보구조물의 자유진동제어에 대한 유한요소 모델을 제안한다

압전 actuator를 위한 새로운 형태의 재료를 개발하여, 그 특성들을 조사하였다. 이 압전 actuator는 세 층으로 구성되어 있다: 압전 세라믹 층, 조성이 점차로 변하는 중간층, 그리고 또 다른 압전 세라믹 층, 이러한 형태이 재료는 경사 기능 재료(Functionally Gradient Material, FGM)라 불리운다. 경사 기능 재료를 제작하기 위한 재료설계의 개념을 도입하여, FGM화에 있어서 열팽창에 의한 시편의 박리를 막기 위해 (Pb, La)(Zr, Ti)O3계에서 서로 다른 세라믹스의 조성을 선택하였다. 1300˚C, 2시간의 소성에 의해 경사 기능화된 PLZT는 약 20μm정도의 중간층을 형성하는 미세구조를 가지고 있었다. 경사 기능 재료에서의 유전 및 압전 등의 여러 특성은 두 접합 조성층 특성의 사이의 값을 나타내었다. 인가 전압에 따른 strain특성은 전반적으로 단일 시편의 특성보다 증가하였으며, 특히 접합 조성층에서 고압전-저유전성 조성과 저압전-고유전성 조성을 경사 기능화하였을 경우에 변위의 증가 정도가 더욱 향상되었다.

Twisted string actuators (TSAs) are tendon-driven actuators that provide high transmission ratios. Twisting a string reduces the length of the string and generates a linear motion of the actuators. In particular, TSAs have characteristic properties (compliance) that are advantageous for operations that need to interact with the external environment. This compliance has the advantage of being robust to disturbance in force control, but it is disadvantageous for precise control because the modeling is inaccurate. In fact, many previous studies have covered the TSA model, but the model is still inadequate to be applied to actual robot control. In this paper, we introduce a modified variable radius model of TASs and experimentally demonstrate that the modified variable radius model is correct compared to the conventional variable radius string model. In addition, the elastic characteristics of the TSAs are discussed along with the experimental results.

In nature, many small insects are using jumping as a survival strategy. Among them, fleas jump in a unique method. They use an elastomer, 'Resilin’, an extensor muscle and a trigger muscle. By contracting the extensor muscle, the elastic energy, that makes a flea to jump, is stored in the resilin. After storing energy, the trigger muscle begins contracting and pulling the extensor muscle. When the extensor muscle crosses the rotational joint, direction of torque generated from the extensor muscle reverses, ‘torque reversal mechanism’. Simultaneously, the elastic energy stored in the resilin releases rapidly and is converted into the kinetic energy. It makes a flea to jump 150 times its body length. In this paper, miniaturized jumping robot using flea-inspired catapult mechanism is presented. This mechanism is based on the 4-bar linkage and the reversal joint and is actuated by Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) coiled springs describing the flea’s muscle. The robot prototype is fabricated by SCM process using glass fiber prepregs and a sheet of polyimide film. The prototype is 20mm link length, 34mm width and 2.0g weight and can jump 103cm.