Journal of Northeastern University Natural Science ›› 2018, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (1): 93-97.DOI: 10.12068/j.issn.1005-3026.2018.01.019

• Mechanical Engineering • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Design and Control of a Novel Variable Stiffness Soft Arm

XIANG Chao-qun, ZHANG Ying, GUO Shao-fei, HAO Li-na   

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering & Automation, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China.
  • Received:2016-07-01 Revised:2016-07-01 Online:2018-01-15 Published:2018-01-31
  • Contact: HAO Li-na
  • About author:-
  • Supported by:
    -

Abstract: Soft robot arms has unique capabilities in reconfigurability, adaptability, flexibility and dexterity. In particular, pneumatic soft robotic systems have advantages such as light weight, high power to weight ratio, and having inherent safety in physical human-robot interaction. A novel design of a soft robotic arm consist of both contractile and extensor pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM) was presented. Kinematic model of this arm was established, and the workspace was analyzed using MATLAB. Experiment setup was established, and motion control experiment of the arm was carried out. Experimental results showed that steady state mean error of tracking step signal is 0.0028rad(0.16°), rise time is less than 2s; mean error of tracking sine signal is 0.0159 rad(0.911°), which means this arm has good controllability.

Key words: soft robot, variable stiffness, expansive PAM, contractile PAM, motion control

CLC Number: