Peristaltic motion system like earthworm are proposed and developed. This system consist of several flexible units. The unit has the flexible body made of silicone gel, the plates made of silicon at both edge of the unit, an SMA coil actuator, which are in the center of the body and are connected to the plates, and the circuit including a D register and a switch for driving the SMA actuator fabricated on the plate. As the units are connected serially each other, the structure of the peristaltic motion system and the shift register to transfer the driving signal are constructed. The simple system was fabricated. The driving circuit was made out of the units. The plates were steel washers. The speed of 0.21mm/s was obtained when the clock frequency, the driving current for the SMA actuators were 3Hz and 400mA, respectively. This system is useful for the motion mechanism for the micromachine which move in the narrow pipes.
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Shinohara et al. (1999) studied this question.