Micro- and Nano-Air Vehicles: State of the Art

Table 4

Quality comparison of actuators: adapted from [35, 79].

Actuators	Advantages	Disadvantages
Linear actuators
Piezoelectric Ceramic	(i) Excellent performances except strain output	(i) Require high activation voltage
	(ii) Strain output can be magnified using bender arrangements
Shape memory alloy	(i) Excellent performance except frequency range	(i) Poor fatigue life
Magnetostrictor	(i) Excellent performances except strain output	(i) Require high activation voltage
Solenoid	(i) High strain	(i) Low energy density
Electroactive Polymers (EAP)	(i) Dielectric elastomers outperform muscle in both stress and strain output.	(i) Only ionic EAPs operate on low voltage
		(ii) Novel technology not widely available
Rotary actuators
Electric motors	(i) Efficiency	(i) Weight
	(ii) Reliability	(ii) Dimensions
	(iii) Versatility