Active material actuator assembly

An active material actuator assembly comprising:

• a shaft rotatable about a center axis;
• multiple active material components operatively connected to said shaft and selectively activatable in a repeating series for sequential actuation for moving said shaft;
• wherein said active material components are configured such that a previously activated one of said active material components is not substantially stretched by actuation of a currently activated active material component;
• a cam lobe having a cam surface connected for rotation with said shaft:
• an extension member extending from said shaft offset from and substantially parallel with said center axis;
• wherein each of said active material components is operatively connected to said extension member and is selectively activatable to actuate and thereby rotate said shaft;
• multiple sliding elements each having one of said active material components operatively connected thereto;
• a base member having multiple slots therein;
• and wherein a portion of each of said sliding elements is slidable within a respective one of said slots toward and away from said center axis due to contact with said cam surface as said cam lobe rotates.

An active material actuator assembly comprising:

• a movable member;
• multiple active material components operatively connected to said movable member and selectively activatable in a repeating series for sequential actuation for moving said movable member;
• and
• wherein said active material components are configured such that a subsequently activated one of said active material components is moved by the movable member when the movable member moves due to actuation of a currently activated one of said active material components so that the subsequently activated one of said active material components is at least partially reset.