A Novel Design for Adjustable Stiffness Artificial Tendon for the Ankle Joint of a Bipedal Robot: Modeling & Simulation
1
Graduate School of Creative Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo 162-0044, Japan
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96816, USA
3
Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, Waseda University, Tokyo 162-0044, Japan
4
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Kanagawa, Yokohama 221-8686, Japan
5
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Humanoid Robotics Institute, Waseda University, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editors: Marco Ceccarelli and Hui Li
Machines 2016, 4(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.3390/machines4010001
Received: 2 August 2015 / Revised: 11 December 2015 / Accepted: 15 December 2015 / Published: 26 December 2015
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanical Designs for Humanoids Robots: Problems and Solutions)
Bipedal humanoid robots are expected to play a major role in the future. Performing bipedal locomotion requires high energy due to the high torque that needs to be provided by its legs’ joints. Taking the WABIAN-2R as an example, it uses harmonic gears in its joint to increase the torque. However, using such a mechanism increases the weight of the legs and therefore increases energy consumption. Therefore, the idea of developing a mechanism with adjustable stiffness to be connected to the leg joint is introduced here. The proposed mechanism would have the ability to provide passive and active motion. The mechanism would be attached to the ankle pitch joint as an artificial tendon. Using computer simulations, the dynamical performance of the mechanism is analytically evaluated.
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MDPI and ACS Style
Omer, A.; Ghorbani, R.; Hashimoto, K.; Lim, H.-O.; Takanishi, A. A Novel Design for Adjustable Stiffness Artificial Tendon for the Ankle Joint of a Bipedal Robot: Modeling & Simulation. Machines 2016, 4, 1.
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