Twisting Wire Actuator

Abstract

A type of actuation used in ancient times, based on twisting wires, is reinvented in this paper. Twisting wires actuation was used long ago to pull heavy objects, but, to the best of the author’s knowledge, this investigation represents the first demonstration of its ability to achieve submicron motion resolution. Twisting wires actuation achieves this high resolution without the use of gears, sliders, high-precision lead screws, etc., thus simplifying the actuation system and eliminating sources of friction. The investigation further proves that the use of two opposing wires drastically reduces the nonlinearity effect inherent in this type of actuation, thus in effect turning the system into a linear one. Several experiments verify the theoretical results.