Passive joint compliance is a key feature of the human hand that plays an important role in realizing dexterous, precise and graceful movements. Our goal is to study the role of passive compliance in the human hand joints and develop ways for implementing human-like passive compliance in a robotic form. While a variety of factors influence joint stiffness in a tendon-driven system the focus of this paper is on investigating the effects of variation in moment arms, defined by the joint shape, on the joint stiffness characteristics. We present a method for analyzing the effects of variable moment arms on the joint stiffness variations and a mathematical technique to synthesize joint shapes based on the stiffness requirements. We study the role of variable passive stiffness by analyzing energy consumption and dynamic response with system models. We validate our theoretical results in shape synthesis with an experimental platform involving a single degree of freedom tendon driven joint. The analysis and results of our work have implications in the design of various robotic systems, including robotic hands, that seek to incorporate human-like joint stiffness characteristics.
- Dynamic Systems and Control Division
Effects of Moment Arm Variations on the Joint Stiffness Characteristics of a Musculo-Tendon Driven Joint
Rao, P, & Deshpande, AD. "Effects of Moment Arm Variations on the Joint Stiffness Characteristics of a Musculo-Tendon Driven Joint." Proceedings of the ASME 2012 5th Annual Dynamic Systems and Control Conference joint with the JSME 2012 11th Motion and Vibration Conference. Volume 2: Legged Locomotion; Mechatronic Systems; Mechatronics; Mechatronics for Aquatic Environments; MEMS Control; Model Predictive Control; Modeling and Model-Based Control of Advanced IC Engines; Modeling and Simulation; Multi-Agent and Cooperative Systems; Musculoskeletal Dynamic Systems; Nano Systems; Nonlinear Systems; Nonlinear Systems and Control; Optimal Control; Pattern Recognition and Intelligent Systems; Power and Renewable Energy Systems; Powertrain Systems. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. October 17–19, 2012. pp. 473-482. ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/DSCC2012-MOVIC2012-8556
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