How far are Pneumatic Artificial Muscles from biological muscles?

Abstract

There is a long history demonstrating humans’ tendency to create artificial copies of living creatures. For moving machines called robots, actuators play a key role in developing human-like movements. Among different types of actuation, PAMs (pneumatic artificial muscles) are known as the most similar ones to biological muscles. In addition to similarities in force generation mechanism (tension based), the well-accepted argumentation from Klute et al., states that the PAM force-length (f l ) behavior is close to biological muscles, while the force-velocity (f v ) pattern is different. Using the multiplicative formulation of the pressure (as an activation term), f l and f v beside an additive passive parallel elastic element, we present a new model of PAM. This muscle-based model can predict PAM dynamic behaviors with high precision. With a second experiment on a two-segmented leg, the proposed model is verified to predict the generated forces of PAMs in an antagonistic arrangement. Such a dynamic muscle-like model of artificial muscles can be used for the design and control of legged robots to generate robust, efficient and versatile gaits.