A Compact Variable Stiffness Actuator for Agile Legged Locomotion

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Yu, Lei, Zhao, Haizhou, Qin, Siying, Jin, Gumin, Chen, Yuqing
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2023
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author Yu, Lei
Zhao, Haizhou
Qin, Siying
Jin, Gumin
Chen, Yuqing
author_facet Yu, Lei
Zhao, Haizhou
Qin, Siying
Jin, Gumin
Chen, Yuqing
contents The legged robots with variable stiffness actuators (VSAs) can achieve energy-efficient and versatile locomotion. However, equipping legged robots with VSAs in real-world application is usually restricted by (i) the redundant mechanical structure design, (ii) limited stiffness variation range and speed, (iii) high energy consumption in stiffness modulation, and (iv) the lack of online stiffness control structure with high performance. In this paper, we present a novel Variable-Length Leaf-Spring Actuator (VLLSA) designed for legged robots that aims to address the aforementioned limitations. The design is based on leaf-spring mechanism and we improve the structural design to make the proposed VSA (i) compact and lightweight in mechanical structure, (ii) precise in theoretical modeling, and (iii) capable of modulating stiffness with wide range, fast speed, low energy consumption and high control performance. Hardware experiments including in-place and forward hopping validate advantages of the proposed VLLSA.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2308_13988
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Compact Variable Stiffness Actuator for Agile Legged Locomotion
Yu, Lei
Zhao, Haizhou
Qin, Siying
Jin, Gumin
Chen, Yuqing
Robotics
The legged robots with variable stiffness actuators (VSAs) can achieve energy-efficient and versatile locomotion. However, equipping legged robots with VSAs in real-world application is usually restricted by (i) the redundant mechanical structure design, (ii) limited stiffness variation range and speed, (iii) high energy consumption in stiffness modulation, and (iv) the lack of online stiffness control structure with high performance. In this paper, we present a novel Variable-Length Leaf-Spring Actuator (VLLSA) designed for legged robots that aims to address the aforementioned limitations. The design is based on leaf-spring mechanism and we improve the structural design to make the proposed VSA (i) compact and lightweight in mechanical structure, (ii) precise in theoretical modeling, and (iii) capable of modulating stiffness with wide range, fast speed, low energy consumption and high control performance. Hardware experiments including in-place and forward hopping validate advantages of the proposed VLLSA.
title A Compact Variable Stiffness Actuator for Agile Legged Locomotion
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.13988