This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Vanderborght, B. Articles by Beyl, P. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Exploiting Natural Dynamics to Reduce Energy Consumption by Controlling the Compliance of Soft Actuators

Vrije Universiteit Brussel Department of Mechanical Engineering Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium bram.vanderborght{at}vub.ac.be

Björn Verrelst

Ronald Van Ham

Michaël Van Damme

Dirk Lefeber

Bruno Meira Y Duran

Pieter Beyl

Vrije Universiteit Brussel Department of Mechanical Engineering Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium

Exploiting natural dynamics for bipedal locomotion, or passive walking, is gaining interest because of its energy efficiency. However, the natural trajectories of a passive walker are fixed during the design, thus limiting its mobility. A possible solution to this problem is creating a "semi-passive walker" equipped with actuators with adaptable compliance, which allows the natural dynamics to be changed according to the situation.

This paper proposes a compliance controller, a strategy for continuously changing the compliance in such a way as to adapt the natural motion of the system to a desired trajectory. This opens up the possibility of following a range of different trajectories with a relatively low energy consumption.

The idea is to fit the controllable actuator compliance to the "natural" compliance of the desired trajectory, and combine that with trajectory tracking control. This strategy was implemented and tested on a 1-DOF pendulum setup actuated by an antagonistic pair of pleated pneumatic artificial muscles. Both simulations and measurements show that the proposed strategy for choosing actuator compliance can significantly reduce the amount of control activity and energy consumption without harming tracking precision.

Key Words: compliance control • stiffness control • soft actuator • compliant actuator • exploiting natural dynamics

The International Journal of Robotics Research, Vol. 25, No. 4, 343-358 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0278364906064566


CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Van Damme, B. Vanderborght, B. Verrelst, R. Van Ham, F. Daerden, and D. Lefeber Proxy-based Sliding Mode Control of a Planar Pneumatic Manipulator The International Journal of Robotics Research, February 1, 2009; 28(2): 266 - 284. [Abstract] [PDF]

				B. Vanderborght, R. Van Ham, D. Lefeber, T. G. Sugar, and K. W. Hollander Comparison of Mechanical Design and Energy Consumption of Adaptable, Passive-compliant Actuators The International Journal of Robotics Research, January 1, 2009; 28(1): 90 - 103. [Abstract] [PDF]