Pneumatic Artificial Actuator Research Articles

Study on a Pneumatic Inspection Micro Robot

A bionic active inchworm endoscopy micro robot was designed which was driven by a flexible 3-DOF (Degree of Freedom) pneumatic artificial actuator for inspection in small industrial pipes or in human cavities online. The driving and the resistance forces on the robot were analyzed and the kinemics equation was set up according to small pipe environment with working fluid. Applying PWM (Pulse Width Modulation: PWM) techniques, the robot can move continuously by computer control. The experiment results prove the robot has good performances and has the capability of doing inspecting work online.

Study on a Pneumatic Artificial Muscle Actuator

Pneumatic artificial actuator had been designed and was used as power driven. A 3-DOF Pneumatic artificial actuator was described as a micro-robot flexible actuator, the mechanical model and dynamic characteristics were studied for high accurate control. The control system was designed and the actuator characteristics were tested in experiments. Results prove the pneumatic artificial actuator has good performances and can be controlled in high speed and high accuracy by computer system with PWM (Pulse Width Modulation: PWM).

318 ヒステリシスモデルを用いた空気圧人工筋アクチュエータの制御

Recently, robots not only have been researched and developed actively but also have replaced humans in several fields such as the service and medical industries. For robots to coexist with humans and provide support, they must have human-like dexterity and should be very safe. Therefore, pneumatic artificial actuators are used to develop safe and lightweight robot. However, the relationship between the internal pressure and contraction ratio of pneumatic artificial actuators is nonlinear, with a hysteresis characteristic and a dead zone. Moreover, the nonlinear characteristics of pneumatic actuators change with the applied load. By such characteristics, controlled performances of equipments mounted pneumatic artificial actuators are unsatisfactory. In this study, we proposed a hysteresis model that can express the change in these hysteresis characteristics, and we constructed a position and force control system that integrated this hysteresis compensation by using the proposed hysteresis model.

321 ヒステリシス特性を考慮した空気圧人工筋マニピュレータの制御

Recently, robots have replaced humans in several fields such as medical treatment and nursing, and they have been researched and developed actively. For robots to coexist with humans and support them, they must have human-like dexterity and should be very safe. Therefore, pneumatic artificial actuators are used to develop safe and lightweight robot hands. However, it is known that the relationship between the inner pressure and contraction ratio of pneumatic artificial actuators is nonlinear and includes a hysteresis characteristic and a dead zone. And, it is known that the nonlinear characteristics of pneumatic artificial actuators change with the applied load. In this paper, we proposed the hysteresis model that can express the change in these hysteresis characteristics, and constructed control system with integrated this hysteresis compensation using the proposed hysteresis model.

315 空気圧人工筋アクチュエータを用いたパラレルマニピュレータの運動制御(計測と制御,OS-17 ロボットのダイナミクスと制御,総合テーマ「伝統を,未来へ!」)

This paper describes motion control of two-degree-of-freedom parallel manipulator which used pneumatic artificial actuators. This parallel manipulator uses three pneumatic artificial actuators. We adopted minimum number of pneumatic artificial actuators that could move two-degree-of-freedom joint, because this manipulator is applied to a joint of robot hand. It is known that high-nonlinearity with the hysteresis characteristic exists in the relationship between inner pressure and contraction ratio of pneumatic artificial actuators. Therefore, in this study, we perform motion control by using the control system which integrated hysteresis compensation.