Abstract:
Background
Soft pneumatic robots have shown great promises in hand rehabilitation systems as alternatives to conventional rigid systems. However, their application is limited to clinical rehabilitation programs due to their dependency on large-sized compressors as air suppliers. This disadvantage triggered the search for compact portable pneumatic sources.
Method
A compact valveless pneumatic source to control the bending angle of a soft actuator is proposed in this paper. The source incorporates two series of serially connected commercially available microcompressors to provide additional pressure and flowrate in two directions. In the proposed design, an inner-loop controller, controls the output characteristics of the source while an outer-loop controller handles the trajectory tracking of the angular position.
Results
Experimental results show that the source is capable of providing up to 160kPa of output. The controller is able to track up to 2rad/sec sinusoidal trajectory with a maximum 0.066rad root-mean-square error.
Conclusion
Experimental measurements showed satisfactory results in the maximum ratings and tracking errors whilst relatively low average power was consumed by eliminating control valves.
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