A Hopping Robot Driven by a Series Elastic Dual-Motor Actuator

Verstraten, Tom; Furnémont, Raphaël; Beckerle, Philipp; Vanderborght, Bram; Lefeber, Dirk

doi:10.1109/lra.2019.2902071

Cited by 22 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 25 publications

(36 reference statements)

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“…The control framework, depicted schematically in Fig. 3, was presented in previous work [32]. In this section, we only give a condensed overview of the control strategy.…”

Section: Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Actuator Spring Bowden Cable Marco Hopper II loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP) model, describes the dynamics of running and hopping well [5]. In previous work, the VMC-based control strategy was successfully applied to the MARCO Hopper II with a traditional motor-gearbox as actuator [35] [37] and with the SEDMA [32]. The approach was also proven to be successful on other robotic legs, e.g.…”

Section: Dual-motormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The solution chosen by the control allocator is the one which leads to a minimal electrical energy consumption. In practice, however, it is hard to achieve this optimal speed distribution at all times due to the dynamics of the system [32]. Finally, the low-level controller converts the desired motor speeds to the required currents for both motors.…”

Section: Dual-motormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…High-level control of the SEDMA is achieved by the biomimetic Virtual Model Control [31], using the well-known Spring-Loaded Inverted Pendulum (SLIP) model [5] as a basis. The controller also incorporates an actuator-specific low-level control algorithm for the SEDMA, which was introduced and discussed in [32].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Redundancy in Biology and Robotics: Potential of Kinematic Redundancy and its Interplay with Elasticity

et al. 2020

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Redundancy facilitates some of the most remarkable capabilities of humans, and is therefore omni-present in our physiology. The relationship between redundancy in robotics and biology is investigated in detail on the Series Elastic Dual-Motor Actuator (SEDMA), an actuator inspired by the kinematic redundancy exhibited by myofibrils. The actuator consists of two motors coupled to a single spring at the output. Such a system has a redundant degree of freedom, which can be exploited to optimize aspects such as accuracy, impedance, fault-tolerance and energy efficiency. To test its potential for human-like motions, the SEDMA actuator is implemented in a hopping robot. Experiments on a physical demonstrator show that the robot's movement patterns resemble human squat jumps. We conclude that robots with bio-inspired actuator designs facilitate human-like movement, although current technical limitations may prevent them from reaching the same dynamic and energetic performance.

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“…The control framework, depicted schematically in Fig. 3, was presented in previous work [32]. In this section, we only give a condensed overview of the control strategy.…”

Section: Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dual-motormentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dual-motormentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Redundancy in Biology and Robotics: Potential of Kinematic Redundancy and its Interplay with Elasticity

et al. 2020

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“…A bioinspired one-legged robot that is only actuated by the knee joint cylinder and hops at the vertical rail is used to compare the performances of the DAG and FMAG. This vertical hopping model with a single actuator is wildly used in the robot field to study and test the actuator property [39][40][41][42]. The design parameters in these two attachment geometries are optimized respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design, Optimization and Evaluation of a New Cylinder Attachment Geometry to Improve the Hopping Height of the Bionic One-Legged Robot

Zhao

et al. 2021

Applied Sciences

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Due to the high power-to-weight ratio and robustness, hydraulic cylinders are widely used in the actuation area of the legged robot systems. Most of these applications are focused on the motion stability, gait planning, and impedance control. However, the energy efficiency of the legged robotic system is also a very important point to be considered. Hopping locomotion requires a fast extension of the tibia leg at the end of the take-off phase, which causes a continuous increment of the cylinder velocity under the normally direct attachment geometry (DAG) of the cylinder. This leads to a high flow requirement, large pressure drop, and low energy efficiency. Therefore, we propose a four-bar mechanism attachment geometry (FMAG) to improve the energy efficiency by refining the relationship between the joint angle and cylinder displacement trend. The kinematic and dynamic models of the bionic one-legged robot are built to calculate the hopping process during the take-off phase. Based on the established dynamic models, the design parameters in both the DAG and FMAG are optimized to maximize the hopping height, respectively. The hopping experiments are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the new attachment geometry. The experimental results show that the robot hopping energy at the end of the take-off phase increases 14.8% under the FMAG.

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Novel Multi‐configuration Elastic Actuator with Controllable Energy Flow and Power Modulation for Dynamic Energy Robot Systems

Wei,

Zhang,

Yang

et al. 2024

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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Designing actuators that can modulate power, achieve high energy efficiency, and ensure safe collision remains a challenge, especially for dynamic energy robot systems (DERS) with high‐performance requirements. Herein, a novel multi‐configuration elastic actuator (MCEA) is proposed based on a controllable planetary differential mechanism (PDM) with one power port from three springs. These springs, positioned between the inner gear ring and the fixed housing shell, are regulated by a single servo motor through a ratchet–pawl mechanism. This setup enables the springs to absorb energy during collisions, reducing impact and subsequently releasing this energy to boost power output. The inner gear ring functions as a controllable one‐way rotating element, acting either as an input or output for power. The MCEA's ability to manage power modulation and energy flow is demonstrated through experiments that highlight its potential for safe collision management, energy recycling, and power modulation. Experiment results indicate that the maximum output power of the MCEA in the proposed hybrid elastic actuation (HEA) mode is 8.05 times higher than that in the traditional actuation (TA) mode. A single‐legged robot with a four‐link mechanism is also built to validate the considerable performance in the application of legged robots, showing considerable adaptability and prospects for DERS.

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A Hopping Robot Driven by a Series Elastic Dual-Motor Actuator

Cited by 22 publications

References 25 publications

Redundancy in Biology and Robotics: Potential of Kinematic Redundancy and its Interplay with Elasticity

Redundancy in Biology and Robotics: Potential of Kinematic Redundancy and its Interplay with Elasticity

Design, Optimization and Evaluation of a New Cylinder Attachment Geometry to Improve the Hopping Height of the Bionic One-Legged Robot

Novel Multi‐configuration Elastic Actuator with Controllable Energy Flow and Power Modulation for Dynamic Energy Robot Systems

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