%0 Journal Article %J IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics %D 2016 %T Variable Stiffness Actuators: Review on Design and Components %A S. Wolf %A G. Grioli %A O. Eiberger %A W. Friedl %A M. Grebenstein %A H. Hoppner %A E. Burdet %A D. G. Caldwell %A R. Carloni %A M. G. Catalano %A D. Lefeber %A S. Stramigioli %A N. G. Tsagarakis %A M. Van Damme %A R. Van Ham %A B. Vanderborght %A L. C. Visser %A A. Bicchi %A A Albu-Schaeffer %K Robotics %X

Variable stiffness actuators (VSAs) are complex mechatronic devices that are developed to build passively compliant, robust, and dexterous robots. Numerous different hardware designs have been developed in the past two decades to address various demands on their functionality. This review paper gives a guide to the design process from the analysis of the desired tasks identifying the relevant attributes and their influence on the selection of different components such as motors, sensors, and springs. The influence on the performance of different principles to generate the passive compliance and the variation of the stiffness are investigated. Furthermore, the design contradictions during the engineering process are explained in order to find the best suiting solution for the given purpose. With this in mind, the topics of output power, potential energy capacity, stiffness range, efficiency, and accuracy are discussed. Finally, the dependencies of control, models, sensor setup, and sensor quality are addressed.

%B IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics %V 21 %P 2418 - 2430 %8 10/2016 %G eng %U http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7330025 %N 5 %R 10.1109/TMECH.2015.2501019 %0 Journal Article %J Robotics and Autonomous Systems %D 2015 %T A muscle-like recruitment actuator with modular redundant actuation units for soft robotics %A G. Mathijssen %A J. Schultz %A B. Vanderborght %A A. Bicchi %K Robotics %B Robotics and Autonomous Systems %V 74 %P 40-50 %8 12/2015 %G eng %U http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921889015001384 %N part A %R 10.1016/j.robot.2015.06.010 %0 Conference Paper %B Advanced Space Technologies for Robotics and Automation (ASTRA) %D 2015 %T Potential merits for space robotics from novel concepts of actuation for soft robotics %A G. Mathijssen %A S. Terryn %A R. Funemont %A M. Garabini %A M. G. Catalano %A G. Grioli %A D. Lefeber %A A. Bicchi %A B. Vanderborght %K Robotics %B Advanced Space Technologies for Robotics and Automation (ASTRA) %C Noordwijk, The Netherlands May 11-13, 2015 %0 Conference Paper %B IEEE International Conference of Intelligent Robots and Systems - IROS2015 %D 2015 %T A Selective Recruitment Strategy for Exploiting Muscle-Like Actuator Impedance Properties %A J. Shultz %A G. Mathijssen %A B. Vanderborght %A A. Bicchi %K Robotics %X

Two leading qualities of skeletal muscle that produce good performance in uncertain environments are damage tolerance and the ability to modulate impedance. For this reason, robotics researchers are greatly interested in discovering the key characteristics of muscles that give them these properties and replicating them in actuators for robotic devices. This paper describes a method to harness the redundancy present in muscle-like actuation systems composed of multiple motor units and shows that they have these same two qualities. By carefully choosing which motor units are recruited, the impedance viewed from the environment can be modulated while maintaining the same overall activation level. The degree to which the impedance can be controlled varies with total activation level and actuator length.

Discretizing the actuation effort into multiple parts that work together, inspired by the way muscle fibers work in the human body, produces damage-tolerant behavior. This paper shows that this not only produces reasonably good resolutions without inordinate numbers of units, but gives the control system the ability to set the impedance along with the drive effort to the load.

%B IEEE International Conference of Intelligent Robots and Systems - IROS2015 %I IEEE %C Hamburg, Germany, 28 Sept - 2 Oct 2015 %P 2231-2237 %G english %R 10.1109/IROS.2015.7353676 %0 Journal Article %J Int. J. Robotics Research %D 2015 %T Variable Stiffness Actuators: the user’s point of view %A G. Grioli %A S. Wolf %A M. Garabini %A M. G. Catalano %A E. Burdet %A D. G. Caldwell %A R. Carloni %A W. Friedl %A M. Grebenstein %A M. Laffranchi %A D. Lefeber %A S. Stramigioli %A N G Tsagarakis %A M. Van Damme %A B. Vanderborght %A A Albu-Schaeffer %A A. Bicchi %K Robotics %B Int. J. Robotics Research %V 34 %P 727-743 %8 05/2015 %G eng %U http://ijr.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/0278364914566515v1.pdf?ijkey=anmgudvoLz7ZloP&keytype=finite %N 6 %R 10.1177/0278364914566515 %0 Journal Article %J Robotics and Autonomous Systems %D 2013 %T Variable Impedance Actuators: a Review %A B. Vanderborght %A A Albu-Schaeffer %A A. Bicchi %A E. Burdet %A D. G. Caldwell %A R. Carloni %A M. G. Catalano %A O. Eiberger %A W. Friedl %A G. Ganesh %A M. Garabini %A M. Grebenstein %A G. Grioli %A S. Haddadin %A H. Hoppner %A A. Jafari %A M. Laffranchi %A D. Lefeber %A F. Petit %A S. Stramigioli %A N G Tsagarakis %A M. Van Damme %A R. Van Ham %A L. C. Visser %A S. Wolf %K Robotics %K Soft robotics %K Variable Impedance Actuators %X

Variable Impedance Actuators (VIA) have received increasing attention in recent years as many novel applications involving interactions with an unknown and dynamic environment including humans require actuators with dynamics that are not well-achieved by classical stiff actuators. This paper presents an overview of the different VIAs developed and proposes a classification based on the principles through which the variable stiffness and damping are achieved. The main classes are active impedance by control, inherent compliance and damping actuators, inertial actuators, and combinations of them, which are then further divided into subclasses. This classification allows for designers of new devices to orientate and take inspiration and users of VIA’s to be guided in the design and implementation process for their targeted application.

%B Robotics and Autonomous Systems %V 61 %P 1601–1614 %8 12/2013 %G eng %U http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921889013001188 %N 12 %0 Audiovisual Material %D 2012 %T Variable Impedance Actuators: Moving the Robots of Tomorrow %A B. Vanderborght %A A Albu-Schaeffer %A A. Bicchi %A E. Burdet %A D. G. Caldwell %A R. Carloni %A M. G. Catalano %A G. Ganesh %A M. Garabini %A G. Grioli %A S. Haddadin %A A. Jafari %A M. Laffranchi %A D. Lefeber %A F. Petit %A S. Stramigioli %A N G Tsagarakis %A M. Van Damme %A R. Van Ham %A L. C. Visser %A S. Wolf %K Robotics %B International Conference of Intelligent Robots and Systems - IROS 2012- Best Jubilee Video Award %G eng