This paper presents the development of a compact, modular rotary series elastic actuator (SEA) design that can be customized to meet the requirements of a wide range of applications. The concept incorporates flat brushless motors and planetary gearheads instead of expensive harmonic drives and a flat torsional spring design to create a lightweight, low-volume, easily reconfigurable, and relatively high-performance modular SEA for use in active impedance controlled devices. The key innovations include a Hall effect sensor for direct spring displacement measurements that mitigate the negative impact of backlash on SEA control performance. Both torque and impedance controllers are developed and evaluated using a 1-degree-of-freedom (DoF) prototype of the proposed actuator package. The results demonstrate the performance of a stable first-order impedance controller tested over a range of target impedances. Finally, the flexibility of the modular SEA is demonstrated by configuring it for use in five different actuator specifications designed for use in the uBot-7 mobile manipulator requiring spring stiffnesses from 3 N · m/deg to 11.25 N · m/deg and peak torque outputs from 12 N · m to 45 N · m.
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August 2016
Research-Article
A Compact, Modular Series Elastic Actuator
Jonathan P. Cummings,
Jonathan P. Cummings
Department of Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering,
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
160 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: cummij3@gmail.com
Engineering,
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
160 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: cummij3@gmail.com
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Dirk Ruiken,
Dirk Ruiken
College of Information and Computer Sciences,
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
140 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: ruiken@cs.umass.edu
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
140 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: ruiken@cs.umass.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
Eric L. Wilkinson,
Eric L. Wilkinson
College of Information and Computer Sciences,
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
140 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: ewilkinson@cs.umass.edu
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
140 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: ewilkinson@cs.umass.edu
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Michael W. Lanighan,
Michael W. Lanighan
College of Information and Computer Sciences,
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
140 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: lanighan@cs.umass.edu
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
140 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: lanighan@cs.umass.edu
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Roderic A. Grupen,
Roderic A. Grupen
College of Information and Computer Sciences,
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
140 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: grupen@cs.umass.edu
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
140 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: grupen@cs.umass.edu
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Frank C. Sup, IV
Frank C. Sup, IV
Department of Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering,
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
160 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: sup@umass.edu
Engineering,
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
160 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: sup@umass.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
Jonathan P. Cummings
Department of Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering,
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
160 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: cummij3@gmail.com
Engineering,
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
160 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: cummij3@gmail.com
Dirk Ruiken
College of Information and Computer Sciences,
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
140 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: ruiken@cs.umass.edu
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
140 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: ruiken@cs.umass.edu
Eric L. Wilkinson
College of Information and Computer Sciences,
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
140 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: ewilkinson@cs.umass.edu
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
140 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: ewilkinson@cs.umass.edu
Michael W. Lanighan
College of Information and Computer Sciences,
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
140 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: lanighan@cs.umass.edu
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
140 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: lanighan@cs.umass.edu
Roderic A. Grupen
College of Information and Computer Sciences,
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
140 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: grupen@cs.umass.edu
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
140 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: grupen@cs.umass.edu
Frank C. Sup, IV
Department of Mechanical and Industrial
Engineering,
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
160 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: sup@umass.edu
Engineering,
University of Massachusetts Amherst,
160 Governors Drive,
Amherst, MA 01003
e-mail: sup@umass.edu
1Corresponding author.
Manuscript received June 12, 2015; final manuscript received March 6, 2016; published online April 1, 2016. Assoc. Editor: Jun Ueda.
J. Mechanisms Robotics. Aug 2016, 8(4): 041016 (11 pages)
Published Online: April 1, 2016
Article history
Received:
June 12, 2015
Revised:
March 6, 2016
Citation
Cummings, J. P., Ruiken, D., Wilkinson, E. L., Lanighan, M. W., Grupen, R. A., and Sup, F. C., IV (April 1, 2016). "A Compact, Modular Series Elastic Actuator." ASME. J. Mechanisms Robotics. August 2016; 8(4): 041016. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4032975
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