Variable Impedance Actuators (VIA) have received increasing attention in recent years as many novel applications involving interactions with an unknown and dynamic environment including humans require actuators with dynamics that are not well-achieved by classical stiff actuators. This paper presents an overview of the different VIAs developed and proposes a classification based on the principles through which the variable stiffness and damping are achieved. The main classes are active impedance by control, inherent compliance and damping actuators, inertial actuators, and combinations of them, which are then further divided into subclasses. This classification allows for designers of new devices to orientate and take inspiration and users of VIA's to be guided in the design and implementation process for their targeted application.

A new versatile hydraulically powered quadruped robot (HyQ) has been developed to serve as a platform to study not only highly dynamic motions, such as running and jumping, but also careful navigation over very rough terrain. HyQ stands 1 m tall, weighs roughly 90 kg, and features 12 torque-controlled joints powered by a combination of hydraulic and electric actuators. The hydraulic actuation permits the robot to perform powerful and dynamic motions that are hard to achieve with more traditional electrically actuated robots. This paper describes design and specifications of the robot and presents details on the hardware of the quadruped platform, such as the mechanical design of the four articulated legs and of the torso frame, and the configuration of the hydraulic power system. Results from the first walking experiments are presented, along with test studies using a previously built prototype leg.

This work presents the concept of tele-impedance as a method for remotely controlling a robotic arm in interaction with uncertain environments. As an alternative to bilateral force-reflecting teleoperation control, in tele-impedance a compound reference command is sent to the slave robot including both the desired motion trajectory and impedance profile, which are then realized by the remote controller without explicit feedback to the operator. We derive the reference command from a novel body–machine interface (BMI) applied to the master operator’s arm, using only non-intrusive position and electromyography (EMG) measurements, and excluding any feedback from the remote site except for looking at the task. The proposed BMI exploits a novel algorithm to decouple the estimates of force and stiffness of the human arm while performing the task. The endpoint (wrist) position of the human arm is monitored by an optical tracking system and used for the closed-loop position control of the robot’s end-effector. The concept is demonstrated in two experiments, namely a peg-in-the-hole and a ball-catching task, which illustrate complementary aspects of the method. The performance of tele-impedance control is assessed by comparing the results obtained with the slave arm under either constantly low or high stiffness.

Traditional robotic/mechatronic design has successfully exploited the attributes of heavy mechanical systems engineering, but future scientific trends suggest a need for technology that will emulate natural systems. Among the most pressing of the requirements are actuation systems that can interact in a safer and more natural way. Pneumatic technology has many of tbe compliance forms needed for tbis softer interaction and a number of new systems based on McKibben muscles have been developed in recent years. As with all forms of actuator effective modelling of the performance of these actuators is a prime requirement. In this paper a new model of operation of pneumatic muscle systems is developed. In particular, the model considers the distortion effects at the termination nodes and the radial pressure loss due to rubber elasticity. The new model is compared experimentation on a very large actuator (1.78m long) and shows how this new model improves the assessment of forces and displacement that can be achieved by the actuator. The new model is compared against previous systems models.

Learning by imitation in humanoids is challeng ing due to the unpredictable environments these robots have to face during reproduction. Two sets of tools are relevant for this purpose: 1) probabilistic machine learning methods that can extract and exploit the regularities and important features of the task; and 2) dynamical systems that can cope with perturbation in real-time without having to replan the whole movement. We present a learning by imitation approach combining the two benefits. It is based on a superposition of virtual spring-damper systems to drive a humanoid robot's movement. The method relies on a statistical description of the springs attractor points acting in different candidate frames of reference. It extends dynamic movement primitives models by formulating the dynamical systems parameters estimation problem as a Gaussian mixture regression problem with pro jection in different coordinate systems. The robot exploits local variability information extracted from multiple demonstrations of movements to determine which frames are relevant for the task, and how the movement should be modulated with respect to these frames. The approach is tested on the new prototype of the COMAN compliant humanoid with time-based and time invariant movements, including bimanual coordination skills.

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