Latest Papers

ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics

  • Mechanical Characterization of Supernumerary Robotic Tails for Human Balance Augmentation
    on August 31, 2023 at 12:00 am

    AbstractHumans are intrinsically unstable in quiet stance from a rigid body system viewpoint; however, they maintain balance, thanks to neuro-muscular sensory control properties. With increasing levels of balance related incidents in industrial and ageing populations globally each year, the development of assistive mechanisms to augment human balance is paramount. This work investigates the mechanical characteristics of kinematically dissimilar one and two degrees-of-freedom (DoF) supernumerary robotic tails for balance augmentation. Through dynamic simulations and manipulability assessments, the importance of variable coupling inertia in creating a sufficient reaction torque is highlighted. It is shown that two-DoF tails with solely revolute joints are best suited to address the balance augmentation issue. Within the two-DoF options, the characteristics of open versus closed loop tails are investigated, with the ultimate design selection requiring trade-offs between environmental workspace, biomechanical factors, and manufacturing ease to be made.

Inverse Kinematics Solution Method of an Adaptive Piecewise Geometry for Cable-Driven Hyper-Redundant Manipulator

Abstract

Cable-driven hyper-redundant manipulator (CDHM) with flexible and compliant configuration has high maneuverability in a tight space owing to its multiple degrees of freedom (DOFs). However, an increase in the DOFs of the manipulator makes it very challenging to solve its inverse kinematics. The present work proposes a novel adaptive piecewise geometry method to solve the inverse kinematics of the CDHM. The corresponding computation efficiency will be much lower for traditional methods, i.e., the generalized inverse of the Jacobian matrix and artificial neural network method. When the end-effector of the manipulator is required to move with a larger range, Joint angle physical limit needs to be considered and the proposed method can select the optimal arc configuration to solve the inverse kinematics aiming at reducing joint overrun. An adaptive adjustment coefficient is further introduced to optimize the double-arc configuration so that joint motion is more reasonable as well as avoiding singular configuration. The geometry and joint parameters solved with the proposed novel method are then compared to those of the existing method with the same desired target position to verify the effectiveness of the proposed novel method. Finally, a 12-DOFs hyper-redundant manipulator physical prototype is built, and corresponding experimental results show that with the novel solution method, the manipulator end can precisely reach the expected target position with significantly less computational complexity, which is beneficial to improve real-time control efficiency of the CDHM in practical applications.

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