Electrohydraulic Modeling of a Fluidic Artificial Muscle Actuation System for Robot Locomotion

Fluidic artificial muscles have the potential for a wide range of uses; from injury rehabilitation to high-powered hydraulic systems. Their modeling to date has largely been quasi-static and relied on the operator to adjust pressure so as to control force output and utilization while little work has been done to date to analyze the kinematics of the driving-systems involved in their operation. This paper establishes a combined electro-hydraulic model of a fluidic artificial muscle actuated climbing robot to establish a method for studying the relationships between muscle size, robot size and function, and system design. The study indicates a strong relationship between appropriate system component selection and not only system efficiency but individual component effectiveness. The results of the study show that robot mass, operating pressure, muscle size, and motor-pump selection have noteworthy impacts on the efficiency and thereby longevity of the robot for performing its task.