Passive walking with leg compliance for energy efficient multilegged vehicles

Raby, Eric Y; Orin, David E.

doi:10.1109/robot.1999.770354

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…In this way, it is possible to store and to release the kinetic and the potential energies of the robot legs and body, during the different phases of the locomotion cycle. Raby and Orin (1999) make use of this approach with a passive hexapod robot (Figure 1). The proposed robot has legs with two DOF, one rotational at the hip and one prismatic at the knee, having each joint a spring to allow some compliance.…”

Section: Mechanical Projectmentioning

confidence: 99%

A literature review on the optimization of legged robots

Silva

Machado

2011

Journal of Vibration and Control

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Over the last two decades the research and development of legged locomotion robots has grown steadily. Legged systems present major advantages when compared with 'traditional' vehicles, because they allow locomotion in inaccessible terrain to vehicles with wheels and tracks. However, the robustness of legged robots, and especially their energy consumption, among other aspects, still lag behind mechanisms that use wheels and tracks. Therefore, in the present state of development, there are several aspects that need to be improved and optimized. Keeping these ideas in mind, this paper presents the review of the literature of different methods adopted for the optimization of the structure and locomotion gaits of walking robots. Among the distinct possible strategies often used for these tasks are referred approaches such as the mimicking of biological animals, the use of evolutionary schemes to find the optimal parameters and structures, the adoption of sound mechanical design rules, and the optimization of power-based indexes.

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Section: Mechanical Projectmentioning

confidence: 99%

A literature review on the optimization of legged robots

Silva

Machado

2011

Journal of Vibration and Control

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“…Silva et al (2001), Zelinska (2000) and Zhoga (1998) considered leg dynamics and torques but they did not consider the type of joint actuators, which has a decisive contribution to energy consumption. Geometric work is also an important factor at the design stage (Raby and Orin, 1999; Song et al , 1984).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building an energetic model to evaluate and optimize power consumption in walking robots

Guardabrazo

Santos

2004

Industrial Robot: An International Journal

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An energetic model for walking robots based on both dynamic and actuator models is proposed in this paper. While applied to walking machines, this method allows the evaluation of the influence of leg configuration, body weight, and gait parameters on power consumption. The model is validated by using genetic algorithms to identify the unknown parameters, which enables it to be used as a tool to evaluate and optimize the performance of a legged robot configuration according to the power consumption. This method has been applied to find the optimum stride length for the minimum energy expenditure of a biped prototype depending on the speed and payload, considering both level and slope walking.

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“…The authors of (Raby & Orin, 1999) focus on the effect of gait parameters on the overall energy consumption, but do not differentiate between different sources of energy loss.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Controlled passive actuation : concepts for energy efficient actuation using mechanical storage elements and continuously variable transmissions

Dresscher¹

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SummaryEnergy autonomous robots need to take care of their own energy supply. In the absence of a charging station, the robot will have to replenish its energy in other ways. Alternative energy sources available to a robot in an outdoor environment may include unrefined biomass, sun and wind. As these energy sources are limited, energy efficiency of mobile robots is of key importance.With this research, we want to make a step toward energy autonomous legged robots. For this, we have two key objectives: increase insight in the mechanisms of energy loss and contribute toward the improvement of energy efficiency.In the first part of this thesis, the energy losses in legged robots are discussed. The active supporting of the system mass and the additional movement of the legs contribute to the high energy consumption in legged vehicles. However, how significant the contributions of the various causes of energy loss are, is not well understood. We investigate the mechanisms of energy loss in electric actuators to understand their contribution to energy (in)efficiency. As a part of this effort, a method to select a motor-gearbox combination for energy efficiency is presented and evaluated to show the possible impact. We conclude that for most robotic applications, electric actuators are the dominant cause of energy losses. Selecting a motor-gearbox combination for energy efficiency can provide a significant improvement in the efficiency. However, the energy losses in the motor-gearbox combination remain significant.As an alternative to using only electric actuators for actuation, an actuation principle that incorporates a mechanical storage element and a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) in the drive-train is discussed. This actuation principle is named Controlled Passive Actuation (CPA). The envisioned benefits are twofold: first, separation of the energy supply function and the servoing function enables using the electric actuator in its most efficient range of operation; and, second, by incorporating the capability to recycle energy within the mechanical domain, the energy loss in the electric actuator can be avoided.An important component in this actuation principle is the CVT and in the ii second part of this thesis, two CVT's that were designed for application in Controlled Passive Actuation are discussed. The first design in a lever with a pivot that moves along the lever. It is shown that the design is conceptually suitable for application in Controlled Passive Actuation and that the mechanical design needs improvement. The second design is based on two spheres of which the relative orientation can be changed to adapt the transmission ratio. This concept is named Dual-Hemi CVT. A prototype was built and experimental results show that it is suitable for application in CPA.In the third part of this thesis, two versions of CPA are discussed. In the first version of CPA, a flywheel is used as mechanical storage element. By changing the rate of the transmission ratio of the Continuously Variable Transmission,...

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Passive walking with leg compliance for energy efficient multilegged vehicles

Cited by 4 publications

References 10 publications

A literature review on the optimization of legged robots

A literature review on the optimization of legged robots

Building an energetic model to evaluate and optimize power consumption in walking robots

Controlled passive actuation : concepts for energy efficient actuation using mechanical storage elements and continuously variable transmissions

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