Variable Stiffness Actuators: Review on Design and Components

Sebastian Wolf; Giorgio Grioli; Oliver Eiberger; Werner Friedl; Markus Grebenstein; Hannes Hoppner; Etienne Burdet; Darwin G. Caldwell; Raffaella Carloni; Manuel G. Catalano; Dirk Lefeber; Stefano Stramigioli; Nikos Tsagarakis; Michael Van Damme; Ronald Van Ham; Bram Vanderborght; Ludo C. Visser; Antonio Bicchi; Alin Albu-Schaffer

doi:10.1109/TMECH.2015.2501019

Variable Stiffness Actuators: Review on Design and Components

Sebastian Wolf, Giorgio Grioli, Oliver Eiberger, Werner Friedl, Markus Grebenstein, Hannes Hoppner, Etienne Burdet, Darwin G. Caldwell, Raffaella Carloni, Manuel G. Catalano, Dirk Lefeber, Stefano Stramigioli, Nikos Tsagarakis, Michael Van Damme, Ronald Van Ham, Bram Vanderborght, Ludo C. Visser, Antonio Bicchi, Alin Albu-Schaffer

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

390 Scopus citations

Abstract

Variable stiffness actuators (VSAs) are complex mechatronic devices that are developed to build passively compliant, robust, and dexterous robots. Numerous different hardware designs have been developed in the past two decades to address various demands on their functionality. This review paper gives a guide to the design process from the analysis of the desired tasks identifying the relevant attributes and their influence on the selection of different components such as motors, sensors, and springs. The influence on the performance of different principles to generate the passive compliance and the variation of the stiffness are investigated. Furthermore, the design contradictions during the engineering process are explained in order to find the best suiting solution for the given purpose. With this in mind, the topics of output power, potential energy capacity, stiffness range, efficiency, and accuracy are discussed. Finally, the dependencies of control, models, sensor setup, and sensor quality are addressed.

Original language	English
Article number	7330025
Pages (from-to)	2418-2430
Number of pages	13
Journal	IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics
Volume	21
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TMECH.2015.2501019
State	Published - Oct 2016
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Physical human-robot interaction
soft robotics
variable impedance actuators (VIAs)
variable stiffness actuators (VSAs)

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10.1109/TMECH.2015.2501019

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Wolf, S., Grioli, G., Eiberger, O., Friedl, W., Grebenstein, M., Hoppner, H., Burdet, E., Caldwell, D. G., Carloni, R., Catalano, M. G., Lefeber, D., Stramigioli, S., Tsagarakis, N., Van Damme, M., Van Ham, R., Vanderborght, B., Visser, L. C., Bicchi, A., & Albu-Schaffer, A. (2016). Variable Stiffness Actuators: Review on Design and Components. IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 21(5), 2418-2430. Article 7330025. https://doi.org/10.1109/TMECH.2015.2501019

@article{c878dc74bea745d7afc24c7ae7c88296,

title = "Variable Stiffness Actuators: Review on Design and Components",

abstract = "Variable stiffness actuators (VSAs) are complex mechatronic devices that are developed to build passively compliant, robust, and dexterous robots. Numerous different hardware designs have been developed in the past two decades to address various demands on their functionality. This review paper gives a guide to the design process from the analysis of the desired tasks identifying the relevant attributes and their influence on the selection of different components such as motors, sensors, and springs. The influence on the performance of different principles to generate the passive compliance and the variation of the stiffness are investigated. Furthermore, the design contradictions during the engineering process are explained in order to find the best suiting solution for the given purpose. With this in mind, the topics of output power, potential energy capacity, stiffness range, efficiency, and accuracy are discussed. Finally, the dependencies of control, models, sensor setup, and sensor quality are addressed.",

keywords = "Physical human-robot interaction, soft robotics, variable impedance actuators (VIAs), variable stiffness actuators (VSAs)",

author = "Sebastian Wolf and Giorgio Grioli and Oliver Eiberger and Werner Friedl and Markus Grebenstein and Hannes Hoppner and Etienne Burdet and Caldwell, \{Darwin G.\} and Raffaella Carloni and Catalano, \{Manuel G.\} and Dirk Lefeber and Stefano Stramigioli and Nikos Tsagarakis and \{Van Damme\}, Michael and \{Van Ham\}, Ronald and Bram Vanderborght and Visser, \{Ludo C.\} and Antonio Bicchi and Alin Albu-Schaffer",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 IEEE.",

year = "2016",

month = oct,

doi = "10.1109/TMECH.2015.2501019",

language = "English",

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Wolf, S, Grioli, G, Eiberger, O, Friedl, W, Grebenstein, M, Hoppner, H, Burdet, E, Caldwell, DG, Carloni, R, Catalano, MG, Lefeber, D, Stramigioli, S, Tsagarakis, N, Van Damme, M, Van Ham, R, Vanderborght, B, Visser, LC, Bicchi, A & Albu-Schaffer, A 2016, 'Variable Stiffness Actuators: Review on Design and Components', IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, vol. 21, no. 5, 7330025, pp. 2418-2430. https://doi.org/10.1109/TMECH.2015.2501019

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AU - Wolf, Sebastian

AU - Grioli, Giorgio

AU - Eiberger, Oliver

AU - Friedl, Werner

AU - Grebenstein, Markus

AU - Hoppner, Hannes

AU - Burdet, Etienne

AU - Caldwell, Darwin G.

AU - Carloni, Raffaella

AU - Catalano, Manuel G.

AU - Lefeber, Dirk

AU - Stramigioli, Stefano

AU - Tsagarakis, Nikos

AU - Van Damme, Michael

AU - Van Ham, Ronald

AU - Vanderborght, Bram

AU - Visser, Ludo C.

AU - Bicchi, Antonio

AU - Albu-Schaffer, Alin

PY - 2016/10

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N2 - Variable stiffness actuators (VSAs) are complex mechatronic devices that are developed to build passively compliant, robust, and dexterous robots. Numerous different hardware designs have been developed in the past two decades to address various demands on their functionality. This review paper gives a guide to the design process from the analysis of the desired tasks identifying the relevant attributes and their influence on the selection of different components such as motors, sensors, and springs. The influence on the performance of different principles to generate the passive compliance and the variation of the stiffness are investigated. Furthermore, the design contradictions during the engineering process are explained in order to find the best suiting solution for the given purpose. With this in mind, the topics of output power, potential energy capacity, stiffness range, efficiency, and accuracy are discussed. Finally, the dependencies of control, models, sensor setup, and sensor quality are addressed.

AB - Variable stiffness actuators (VSAs) are complex mechatronic devices that are developed to build passively compliant, robust, and dexterous robots. Numerous different hardware designs have been developed in the past two decades to address various demands on their functionality. This review paper gives a guide to the design process from the analysis of the desired tasks identifying the relevant attributes and their influence on the selection of different components such as motors, sensors, and springs. The influence on the performance of different principles to generate the passive compliance and the variation of the stiffness are investigated. Furthermore, the design contradictions during the engineering process are explained in order to find the best suiting solution for the given purpose. With this in mind, the topics of output power, potential energy capacity, stiffness range, efficiency, and accuracy are discussed. Finally, the dependencies of control, models, sensor setup, and sensor quality are addressed.

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KW - soft robotics

KW - variable impedance actuators (VIAs)

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JF - IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics

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ER -

Variable Stiffness Actuators: Review on Design and Components

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