ELECTRO-ACTIVE ROTARY DEVICES

摘要

An electro-active rotary device comprising a plurality of electro-active elements, each element being arranged to bend, on activation, to generate relative rotation of its ends, the elements being connected together by their ends in series, with each element extending between its ends around a common axis to bend around the common axis. The elements are arranged to combine the rotation generated by each element to produce a net relative rotation around the common axis between the elements at the ends of the series on activation of all the elements. In one type of embodiment, the device extends along the common axis with the elements arranged successively along the common axis. In another type of embodiment, the elements are curved around the common axis and nested together.