Wheeled jumping robot by powermodulation using twisted string lever mechanism

This study introduces a wheeled robot platform with jumping ability.To realize jump movement,a twisted string lever mechanism is used,which is characterized by its compactness and variable gear ratio.Based on robot modeling and parameter calculation,the twisted string actuator shows its advantage when applied to situations such as jumping of robots,where explosiveness of output force matters.In this study,a wheeled bipedal robot equipped with the twisted string actuator is designed and fabricated.It weighs 16.0 kg and can perform jumps when it encounters obstacles.The prototype can jump up to a stage with a maximum height of 1.0 m using electric power,which is approximately 1.5 times the height of its stretched legs.

Anthropomorphic hand based on twisted-string-driven da Vinci’s mechanism for approaching human dexterity and power of grasp

Designing anthropomorphic prosthetic hands that approach human-level performance remains a great challenge.Commercial prosthetics are still inferior to human hands in several important properties, such as weight, size, fingertip force,grasp velocity, and active and passive dexterities. We present a novel design based on the under-actuated da Vinci’s mechanism driven by a flexible twisted string actuator(TSA). The distributed drive scheme allows structural optimization using a motion capture database to reproduce the natural movement of human hands while keeping adaptability to free-form objects. The application of TSA realizes a high conversion from motor torque to tendon contraction force while keeping the structure light,flexible, and compact. Our anthropomorphic prosthetic hand, consisting of six active and 15 passive degrees of freedom, has a weight of 280 g, approximately 70% of that of a human hand. It passed 30 of the 33 Feix grasp tests on objects in daily living and retained a loading capacity of 5 kg. This simple but intelligent mechanism leads to excellent stability and adaptability and renders feasible wide applications in prosthetics and in service robots.

A Self-sensing TSA-actuated Anthropomorphic Robot Hand

This paper introduces a self-sensing anthropomorphic robot hand driven by Twisted String Actuators(TSAs).The use of TSAs provides several advantages such as muscle-like structures,high transmission ratios,large output forces,high efficiency,compactness,inherent compliance,and the ability to transmit power over distances.However,conventional sensors used in TSA-actuated robotic hands increase stiffness,mass,volume,and complexity,making feedback control challenging.To address this issue,a novel self-sensing approach is proposed using strain-sensing string based on Conductive Polymer Composite(CPC).By measuring the resistance changes in the strain-sensing string,the bending angle of the robot hand's fingers can be estimated,enabling closed-loop control without external sensors.The developed self-sensing anthropomorphic robot hand comprises a 3D-printed structure with five fingers,a palm,five self-sensing TSAs,and a 3D-printed forearm.Experimental studies validate the self-sensing properties of the TSA and the anthropomorphic robot hand.Additionally,a real-time Virtual Reality(VR)monitoring system is implemented for visualizing and monitoring the robot hand's movements using its self-sensing capabilities.This research contributes valuable insights and advancements to the field of intelligent prosthetics and robotic end grippers.