Bidirectional antagonistic variable stiffness actuation: Analysis, design & implementation

Florian Petit, Maxime Chalon, Werner Friedl, Markus Grebenstein, Alin Albu-Schäffer, Gerd Hirzinger

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

74 Scopus citations

Abstract

The variable stiffness actuation concept is considered to provide a human-friendly robot technology. This paper examines a joint concept called the bidirectional antagonistic joint which is a extension of antagonistic joints. A new operating mode called the helping mode is introduced, which increases the joint load range. Although the joint can not be pretensioned in the helping mode, it is shown that a stiffness variation is possible, assuming a suitable torque-stiffness characteristic of the elastic elements. A methodology to design such characteristics is presented along with several example cases interpreted in a torque-stiffness plot. Furthermore, a stiffness adaptation control scheme which ensures mechanism safety is described. Finally, the design methodology and the control are evaluated on an implementation of a bidirectional antagonistic joint.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, ICRA 2010
Pages4189-4196
Number of pages8
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010
Externally publishedYes
Event2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, ICRA 2010 - Anchorage, AK, United States
Duration: 3 May 20107 May 2010

Publication series

NameProceedings - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation
ISSN (Print)1050-4729

Conference

Conference2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, ICRA 2010
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityAnchorage, AK
Period3/05/107/05/10

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