SMA-TENG Actuator with Tactile Sensing Capability
Yiping Zhang, Zihe Liu, Xi Xu, Jiaqi Jin, Boan Yang, Li Wen, Ziyu Ren
Abstract
Shape memory alloy (SMA) is widely employed in developing actuators. However, the lack of sensing capabilities limits its application. This study presents a sensing-actuation integrated device based on SMA and triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), achieving tactile sensing while maintaining the actuation performance. The proposed core-shell structure not only repurposes the SMA spring as a key component of actuation and sensing, but also effectively isolates the actuation current to prevent interference with the sensing signal. The aerogel-modified silicone composite layer is applied to the SMA to reduce temperature rise by 30.56%, ensuring the sensing performance. With a rapid response time of less than 31 ms and stable sensing performance exceeding 2000 cycles, the SMA-TENG actuator reliably detects dynamically varying forces and bending. Additionally, it generates a maximum actuation force of 3.21 N, which represents a 12.2% increase compared to a standard SMA spring, due to the pre-stress introduced by the composite layer. Moreover, it can actuate a displacement of 7.7 cm and exhibiting a power density of 7.15 × 10<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> W/m<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> (at 0.84 V, 6 A). Finally, we validate its haptic sensing capability during actuation, demonstrating its potential towards interactive robotic systems.
BibTeX
@inproceedings{iros2025_smatengactuatorw,
title = {SMA-TENG Actuator with Tactile Sensing Capability},
author = {Yiping Zhang and Zihe Liu and Xi Xu and Jiaqi Jin and Boan Yang and Li Wen and Ziyu Ren},
booktitle = {IROS 2025},
year = {2025}
}