DOE Patents title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Integrated, proportionally controlled, and naturally compliant universal joint actuator with controllable stiffness

Abstract

An apparatus for traversing obstacles having an elongated, round, flexible body that includes a plurality of segments interconnected by an integrated joint actuator assembly. The integrated joint actuator assembly includes a plurality of bellows-type actuators individually coupling adjacent segments to permit pivotal actuation of the apparatus therebetween. A controller is employed to maintain proper positional control and stiffness control while minimize air flow.

Inventors:
;
Issue Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1175287
Patent Number(s):
6870343
Application Number:
10/672,290
Assignee:
The University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)
Patent Classifications (CPCs):
B - PERFORMING OPERATIONS B08 - CLEANING B08B - CLEANING IN GENERAL
B - PERFORMING OPERATIONS B25 - HAND TOOLS B25J - MANIPULATORS
DOE Contract Number:  
FG04-86NE37969
Resource Type:
Patent
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
42 ENGINEERING

Citation Formats

Borenstein, Johann, and Granosik, Grzegorz. Integrated, proportionally controlled, and naturally compliant universal joint actuator with controllable stiffness. United States: N. p., 2005. Web.
Borenstein, Johann, & Granosik, Grzegorz. Integrated, proportionally controlled, and naturally compliant universal joint actuator with controllable stiffness. United States.
Borenstein, Johann, and Granosik, Grzegorz. Tue . "Integrated, proportionally controlled, and naturally compliant universal joint actuator with controllable stiffness". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1175287.
@article{osti_1175287,
title = {Integrated, proportionally controlled, and naturally compliant universal joint actuator with controllable stiffness},
author = {Borenstein, Johann and Granosik, Grzegorz},
abstractNote = {An apparatus for traversing obstacles having an elongated, round, flexible body that includes a plurality of segments interconnected by an integrated joint actuator assembly. The integrated joint actuator assembly includes a plurality of bellows-type actuators individually coupling adjacent segments to permit pivotal actuation of the apparatus therebetween. A controller is employed to maintain proper positional control and stiffness control while minimize air flow.},
doi = {},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Mar 22 00:00:00 EST 2005},
month = {Tue Mar 22 00:00:00 EST 2005}
}

Works referenced in this record:

Design and motion planning of a mechanical snake
journal, January 1993


Development of mobile inspection robot for rescue activities: MOIRA
conference, January 2003


Accurate position control of a pneumatic actuator using on/off solenoid valves
journal, January 1997


Position control of a pneumatic cylinder using fuzzy PWM control method
journal, April 1998


GMD-SNAKE2: a snake-like robot driven by wheels and a method for motion control
conference, January 1999


Limbless locomotion: learning to crawl
conference, January 1999


Millibot trains for enhanced mobility
journal, December 2002


A Linear Time Varying Model for On-Off Valve Controlled Pneumatic Actuators
journal, December 1990


The selection of mechanical actuators based on performance indices
journal, October 1997

  • Huber, J. E.; Fleck, N. A.; Ashby, M. F.
  • Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Vol. 453, Issue 1965
  • https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1997.0117

An Analysis of a Pneumatic Servo System and Its Application to a Computer-Controlled Robot
journal, September 1988


Design and Control of a Mobile Robot with an Articulated Body
journal, April 1990


Optimization of the control parameters of a pneumatic servo cylinder drive using genetic algorithms
journal, July 1998


Practical Design of a Sliding Mode Controller for Pneumatic Actuators
journal, December 1997

  • Pandian, Shunmugham R.; Hayakawa, Yasuhiro; Kanazawa, Yoshinori
  • Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control, Vol. 119, Issue 4
  • https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2802376

Comparison Between Linear and Nonlinear Control of an Electropneumatic Servodrive
journal, June 1996


Continuous Sliding Mode Control of a Pneumatic Actuator
journal, September 1997


Design of in-pipe inspection vehicles for φ25, φ50, φ150 pipes
conference, January 1999


An experimental comparison between several pneumatic position control methods
conference, January 2001

  • Chillari, S.; Guccione, S.; Muscato, G.
  • 40th Conference on Decision and Control, Proceedings of the 40th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (Cat. No.01CH37228)
  • https://doi.org/10.1109/CDC.2001.981043

Controlling a multi-joint robot for autonomous sewer inspection
conference, January 2000

  • Scholl, K. -U.; Kepplin, V.; Berns, K.
  • 2000 ICRA. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Proceedings 2000 ICRA. Millennium Conference. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Symposia Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37065)
  • https://doi.org/10.1109/ROBOT.2000.844841

Biomimetic design and fabrication of a hexapedal running robot
conference, January 2001


A safer way to search disaster sites
journal, January 2000


A tele-operated semi-intelligent climbing robot for nuclear applications
conference, January 1997


Modeling, identification, and control of a pneumatically actuated, force controllable robot
journal, January 1998