Deployable‐Structure‐Based Artificial Muscles Generating Coded Forces

Abstract Here mechanical metamaterials with shape memory alloys (SMA) are assembled to create a new kind of artificial muscle driven by response to temperature changes that generates pulling, pushing, and structurally coded and sequentially coded forces. The deformation and force response of a muscle unit can be geometrically tuned, and different forces are generated with two units arranged in parallel and in series. SMA sheets with different orientations controlling different units of a muscle chain can generate programmable force responses as a mixture of pulling and pushing forces. Combining structural coding with sequential coding, a wide range of force responses can be generated with a single muscle chain. It is shown that the proposed muscles can be applied in an arm‐like mechanism to lift weights and to enable a car to cross a barrier. The principle explored in the work can be used to transform versatile origami‐ and kirigami‐based structures into multifunctional actuators for many applications that can also be based on a variety of materials other than SMA.