MODEL IMPROVEMENT AND EXPERIMENT VALIDATION OF PNEUMATIC ARTIFICIAL MUSCLES

According to the deficiency of the present model of pneumatic artificialmuscles (PAM), a serial model is built up based on the PAM's essential working principle with theelastic theory, it is validated by the quasi-static and dynamic experiment results, which are gainedfrom two experiment systems. The experiment results and the simulation results illustrate that theserial model has made a great success compared with Chou's model, which can describe the forcecharacteristics of PAM more precisely. A compensation item considering the braid's elasticity andthe coulomb damp is attached to the serial model based on the analysis of the experiment results.The dynamic experiment proves that the viscous damp of the PAM could be ignored in order to simplifythe model of PAM. Finally, an improved serial model of PAM is obtained.

Active Force with Fuzzy Logic Control of a Two-Link Arm Driven by Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

In this paper, the practicality and feasibility of Active Force Control （AFC） integrated with Fuzzy Logic（AFCAFL） applied to a two link planar arm actuated by a pair of Pneumatic Artificial Muscle （PAM） is investigated. The study emphasizes on the application and control of PAM actuators which may be considered as the new generation of actuators comprising fluidic muscle that has high-tension force, high power to weight ratio and high strength in spite of its drawbacks in the form of high nonlinearity behaviour, high hysteresis and time varying parameters. Fuzzy Logic （FL） is used as a technique to estimate the best value of the inertia matrix of robot arm essential for the AFC mechanism that is complemented with a conventional Propor- tional-Integral-Derivative （PID） control at the outermost loop. A simulation study was first performed followed by an experi- mental investigation for validation. The experimental study was based on the independent joint tracking control and coordinated motion control of the arm in Cartesian or task space. In the former, the PAM actuated arm is commanded to track the prescribed trajectories due to harmonic excitations at the joints for a given frequency, whereas for the latter, two sets of trajectories with different loadings were considered. A practical rig utilizing a Hardware-In-The-Loop Simulation （HILS） configuration was developed and a number of experiments were carried out. The results of the experiment and the simulation works were in good agreement, which verified the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed AFCAFL scheme actuated by PAM.

FORCE FEEDBACK DATAGLOVE BASED ON PNEUMATIC ARTIFICIAL MUSCLES

An exoskeleton force feedback dataglove is developed, which uses the pneumatic artificial muscles as actuators. On the basis of the simplified hand model, the motion equation is deduced according to the theory of Denavit-Hartenberg. The model of the equivalent contact forces exerted by the object on the finger is proposed. By the principle of virtual work, the static equilibrium of finger is established. The force Jacobian matrix of finger is calculated, and then the joint torques of the finger when grasping objects are obtained. The theory and structure of the force feedback datagolve are introduced. Based on the theory of motion stabilization of four-bar linkage, the flexion angles of joints are measured. The torques on finger joints caused by the output forces of pneumatic artificial muscles are calculated. The output forces of pneumatic artificial muscle, whose values are controlled by its inner pressure, can be calculated by the joint torques of the finger when grasping objects. The arms of force, driving torques and the needed output forces of pneumatic muscle are calculated for each joint of the index finger. The criterion of output force of pneumatic muscle is given.

Adaptive Self‐Tuning Fuzzy Controller for a Soft Rehabilitation Machine Actuated by Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

Pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs) have the highest power to weight and power to volume ratios of any actuator. Therefore, they can be used not only in rehabilitation engineering, but also as actuators in robots, including industrial and therapy robots. Because PAMs have highly nonlinear and time‐varying behavior associated with gas compression and the nonlinear elasticity of bladder containers, achieving excellent tracking performance using classical controllers is difficult. An adaptive self‐tuning fuzzy controller (ASTFC) including adaptive fuzzy sliding mode control (AFSMC) and functional approximation (FA) was developed in this study for overcoming the aforementioned problems. The FA technique was used to release the model‐based requirements and the update laws for the coefficients of the Fourier series function parameters were derived using a Lyapunov function to guarantee control system stability. The experimental results verified that the proposed approach can achieve excellent control performance despite external disturbance.

Experimental Research of Force Feedback Dataglove Based on Pneumatic Artificial Muscle

Force feedback dataglove is an important interface of human-machine interaction between manipulator and virtual assembly system, which is in charge of the bidirectional transmission of movement and force information between computer and operator. The exoskeleton force feedback dataglove is designed taking the pneumatic artificial muscle as actuator, meanwhile, its structure and work principle are introduced, and the force control problem is analyzed and researched by experiment. The mathematic model of grasping rigid object for finger is established. Considering the friction of tendon-sheath system and finger deformation, the closed-loop force control for a single joint, a single finger and multi-fingers are studied respectively by the feedforward proportional-integral（PI） control method with variable arguments. On the premise of the force smoothness, the control error of the force exerted on the finger joint is in the range of ±0.25 N, which meets the requirement of force feedback. By experimental analysis, the reason of force fluctuation is that the finger joint has a small amplitude quiver, and the consistent change tendency of the force between proximal interphalangeal（PIP） joint and distal interphalangeal（DIP） joint results from their angle coupling relationship.

Design and test of pneumatic artificial muscle driven variable trailing-edge camber wing

A variable camber wing driven by pneumatic artificial muscles is developed in this paper. Firstly, the experimental setup to measure the static output force of pneumatic artificial muscle is designed and the relationship between the static output force and the air pressure is investigated. Experimental results show that the static output force of pneumatic artificial muscle decreases nonlinearly with the increase of contraction ratio. Secondly, the model of variable camber wing driven by pneumatic artificial muscles is manufactured to validate the variable camber concept. Finally, wind tunnel tests are conducted in the low speed wind tunnel. It is found that the wing camber increases with the increase of air pressure. When the air pressure of PAMs is 0.4 MPa and 0.5 MPa, the tip displacement of the trailing-edge is 3 mm and 5 mm, respectively. The lift of aerofoil with flexible trailing-edge increases by 87% at AOA of 5°.

Precise Positioning of Pneumatic Artificial Muscle Systems

Pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs) currently possess a high power-to-weight ratio, a high power-to-volume ratio, and a high degree of safety. They have therefore been applied to many power assist devices and positioning mechanisms such as bionic robots, welfare devices, and parallel manipulators. However, the significant nonlinear characteristics of PAM mechanisms limit their positioning accuracies. The accuracies are generally lower than 5 μm, which preclude the PAM from precision systems. Nevertheless, enhancing the positioning accuracy is desired to extend the application fields of PAMs. This study aims to clarify a practical controller design method to achieve the precise positioning of PAM systems. As the first step of this research, a linear motion mechanism with a pair of McKibben PAMs was constructed and a conventional dynamic model for this system is introduced. The dynamic model is used to explain the basic characteristics of the PAM mechanism and discuss the necessary characteristics for precise positioning. Then open-loop step and sinusoidal responses of the PAM mechanism were examined by experimental and simulated results. Next, for precise positioning, the practical controller design procedure is discussed and determined based on the measured open-loop responses. The proposed controller design procedure can be easily implemented into PAM mechanisms without an exact dynamic model. The positioning performance of such a system was experimentally evaluated. The experimental results show that although the positioning accuracy depends on the target position, the positioning error is lower than 1 μm even in the worst case and the positioning resolution can be set to 0.5 μm.

Joint position control of bionic jumping leg driven by pneumatic artificial muscle

The bionic legs are generally driven by motors which have the disadvantages of large size and heavy weight.In contrast,the bionic legs driven by pneumatic artificial muscles(PAMs)have the advantages of light weight,good bionics and flexibility.A kind of bionic leg driven by PAMs is designed.The proportional-integral-derivative(PID)algorithm and radial basis function neural network(RBFNN)algorithm are combined to design RBFNN-PID controller,and a low-pass filter is added to the control system,which can effectively improve the jitter phenomenon of the joint during the experiment.It is verified by simulation that the RBFNN-PID algorithm is better than traditional PID algorithm,the response time of joint is improved from 0.15 s to 0.07 s,and the precision of joint position control is improved from 0.75°to 0.001°.The experimental results show that the amplitude of the change in error is reduced from 0.5°to 0.2°.It is verified by jumping experiment that the mechanism can realize jumping action under control,and can achieve the horizontal displacement of 500 mm and the vertical displacement of 250 mm.

Hopping planning of the bionic leg mechanism driven by PAMs with biarticular muscle

Bionic robots are generally driven by motors.As robots driven by pneumatic artificial muscles(PAMs)have the advantages of light weight,good bionics and flexibility,more and more researchers have adopted PAMs to drive bionic robots.A kind of bionic leg driven by PAMs for hopping is proposed in this work.A 3-DOF bionic leg driven by 4 PAMs is designed by analyzing the biological structure and movement principles of frog legs,and 3 kinds of leg configuration with different PAMs arrangement is proposed.One biarticular muscle is used to increase the joint rotating range.The bracket pulley and PAMs for driving joint can effectively increase its rotating range.The rotating range of hip and knee joint driven by a biarticular muscle is simulated.The simulation results show that the biarticular muscle can transfer the movement of the hip joint to the knee joint and increase the rotating range of the knee joint.The greater the contraction of PAM,the greater the rotating range of joint.The bionic leg can perform planned step distance and step height of hopping.

Analysis on pivot turning of quadruped robot with bionic flexible body driven by the PAMs

The pivot turning function of quadruped bionic robots can improve their mobility in unstructured environment.A kind of bionic flexible body mechanism for quadruped robot was proposed in this paper,which is composed of one bionic spine and four pneumatic artificial muscles(PAMs).The coordinated movement of the bionic flexible body and the leg mechanism can achieve pivot turning gait.First,the pivot turning gait planning of quadruped robot was analyzed,and the coordinated movement sequence chart of pivot turning was presented.Then the kinematics modeling of leg side swing and body bending for pivot turning was derived,which should meet the condition of the coordinated movement between bionic flexible body and leg mechanism.The PAM experiment was conducted to analyze its contraction characteristic.The study on pivot turning of the quadruped robot will lay a theoretical foundation for the further research on dynamic walking stability of the quadruped robot in unstructured environment.

A Survey on Pneumatic Muscle Actuators Modeling

The aim of this article is to provide a survey on the most popular modeling approaches for PMAs （pneumatic muscle actuators）. PMAs are highly non-linear pneumatic actuators where their elongation is proportional to the interval pressure. During the last decade, there has been an increase in the industrial and scientific utilization of PMAs, due to their advantages such as high strength and small weight, while various types of PMAs with different technical characteristics have appeared in the literature. This article will： （a） analyse the PMA＇s operation from a mathematical modeling perspective; （b） present their merits and drawbacks of the most common PMAs; and （c） establish the fundamental basis for developing industrial applications and conducting research in this field.

基于气动肌肉驱动的关节自抗扰控制

为了解决气动人工肌肉驱动的下肢康复机器人轨迹跟踪中存在外界干扰和系统参数不确定的问题,提出了一种关节控制自抗扰算法。该方法在气动人工肌肉关节伺服控制系统数学模型基础上,通过三阶状态扩张观测器对系统状态及系统干扰进行估计,对干扰进行实时补偿,并基于分离性原理进行参数整定;利用气动人工肌肉试验平台对控制系统进行定角度条件下的阶跃信号跟踪控制、方波跟踪控制和正弦跟踪控制对比验证实验。实验结果表明:所设计的自抗扰控制器较比例-积分-微分(proportion integration differentiation,PID)控制器响应时间更快、控制误差更低,满足下肢康复机器人的应用控制要求。

悬吊式重力卸荷系统的主动式缓冲控制

针对索驱悬吊式重力卸荷系统被动缓冲器带来的欠驱动问题,提出了基于气动人工肌肉(Pneumatic Artificial Muscle,PAM)主动式缓冲器控制方法。首先,分析用于地面微/低重力模拟的悬吊式重力卸荷系统,为了克服PAM高度非线性特性,提出基于块结构的非线性神经网络建模方法,其次分析吊索与航天器相互作用过程中挠性引起的力扰动,最后采用非线性模型预测跟踪控制。相比传统PID控制方法,该方法具有参数调节简单,实时跟随性能好,以及对卸荷系统目标惯性参数的摄动具有控制性能不变性等优势。实验结果表明,设置不同扰动情况跟随力误差都能保证在3%以内,实验证明了基于PAM主动缓冲器的可行性,所提出的控制方法能够在挠性不确定性的情况下实现力跟随控制。

人工肌肉驱动的腰部助力器设计与仿真研究

目的为了帮助腰椎疾患、腰肌劳损、弯腰作业者,方法提出一种由McKibben型气动人工肌肉实现轻量化、柔性助力、穿戴舒适的腰部助力器,分析穿戴与未穿戴腰部助力器搬举重物时腰部主要肌群的肌肉力变化,验证腰部助力器的有效性。通过三维动作捕捉系统和三维测力系统采集受试者在搬举过程中的运动学和动力学数据,导入腰部助力器三维模型作为驱动数据,建立人体腰部骨骼肌肉生物力学模型,利用Hill型三元素肌肉模拟McKibben型气动人工肌肉,搭建人机交互模型并进行仿真分析。通过测量重物搬举过程中腰部主要肌群的肌电信号变化,对比肌电信号曲线与肌肉力曲线趋势,验证仿真分析结果的有效性。结果实验结果表明,穿戴腰部助力器运动时主要参与作用的为竖脊肌、多裂肌和腰方肌,其中竖脊肌助力效果最为显著,助力效果达到43%。结论通过进行人机交互模型的生物力学仿真,验证了搬举重物时腰部助力器的有效性,该助力器可为护理人员和物料搬运工作者提供助力。

Modeling and compensation of hysteresis for pneumatic artificial muscles based on Gaussian mixture models

This paper presents a new data-driven model of length-pressure hysteresis of pneumatic artificial muscles(PAMs) based on Gaussian mixture models(GMMs). By ignoring the high-order dynamics, the hysteresis of PAMs is modeled as a first-order nonlinear dynamical system based on GMMs, and inversion of the model is subsequently derived. Several verification experiments are conducted. Firstly, parameters of the model are identified under low-frequency triangle-wave pressure excitations.Then, pressure signals with different amplitudes, shapes and frequencies are applied to the PAM to test the prediction performance of the model. The proposed model shows advantages in identification efficiency and prediction precision compared with a generalized Prandtl–Ishlinskii(GPI) model and a modified generalized Prandtl–Ishlinskii(MGPI) model. Finally, the effectiveness of the inverse model is demonstrated by implementing the feedforward hysteresis compensation in trajectory tracking experiments.

A method for the length-pressure hysteresis modeling of pneumatic artificial muscles

This paper presents a method for the length-pressure hysteresis modeling of pneumatic artificial muscles(PAMs)by using a modified generalized Prandtl-Ishlinskii(GPI)model.Different from the approaches for establishing the GPI models by replacing the linear envelope functions of operators with hyperbolic tangent and exponential envelop functions,the proposed model is derived by modifying the envelope functions of operators into arc tangent functions,which shows an improvement in the modeling accuracy.The effectiveness of the proposed model is verified by the experimental data of a PAM.Furthermore,its capacity in capturing the hysteresis relationship between length and pressure is testified by giving different input pressure signals.With regard to the computational efficiency,the influence of the number of operators on the modeling accuracy is discussed.Furthermore,the inversion of the GPI model is derived.Its capability of compensating the hysteresis nonlinearities is confirmed via the simulation and experimental study.

Design,Characterization and Optimization of Multi-directional Bending Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

Bending Pneumatic Artificial Muscles(PAMs)are particularly attractive and extensively applied to the soft grasper,snake-like robot,etc.To extend the application of PAMs,we fabricate a Multi-directional Bending Pneumatic Artificial Muscle(MBPAM)that can bend in eight directions by changing the pressurized chambers.The maximum bending angle and output force are 151°and 0.643 N under the pressure of 100 kPa,respectively.Additionally,the Finite Element Model(FEM)is established to further investigate the performance.The experimental and numerical results demonstrate the nonlinear relationship between the pressure and the bending angle and output force.Moreover,the effects of parameters on the performance are studied with the validated FEM.The results reveal that the amplitude of waves and the thickness of the base layer can be optimized.Thus,multi-objective optimization is performed to improve the bending performance of the MBPAM.The optimization results indicate that the output force can be increased by 7.8%with the identical bending angle of the initial design,while the bending angle can be improved by 8.6%with the same output force.Finally,the grasp tests demonstrate the grip capability of the soft four-finger gripper and display the application prospect of the MBPAM in soft robots.

Adaptive Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model and model predictive control of pneumatic artificial muscles

Pneumatic artificial muscles(PAMs)usually exhibit strong hysteresis nonlinearity and time-varying features that bring PAMs modeling and control difficulties.To characterize the hysteresis relation between PAMs’displacement and fluid pressure,a long short term memory(LSTM)neural network model and an adaptive Takagi-Sugeno(T-S)fuzzy model are proposed.Experiments show that both models perform well under the load free conditions,and the adaptive T-S Fuzzy model can furtherly adapt to the change of load with the online adaptation ability.With the concise expression and satisfactory performance of the adaptive T-S Fuzzy model,a model predictive controller is designed and tested.Experiments show that the model predictive controller has a good performance on tracking the given references.

Design and modeling of a novel soft parallel robot driven by endoskeleton pneumatic artificial muscles

Owing to their inherent great flexibility, good compliance, excellent adaptability, and safe interactivity, soft robots have shown great application potential. The advantages of light weight, high efficiency, non-polluting characteristic, and environmental adaptability provide pneumatic soft robots an important position in the field of soft robots. In this paper, a soft robot with 10 soft modules, comprising three uniformly distributed endoskeleton pneumatic artificial muscles, was developed. The robot can achieve flexible motion in 3D space. A novel kinematic modeling method for variable-curvature soft robots based on the minimum energy method was investigated, which can accurately and efficiently analyze forward and inverse kinematics. Experiments show that the robot can be controlled to move to the desired position based on the proposed model. The prototype and modeling method can provide a new perspective for soft robot design, modeling, and control.

气动人工肌肉驱动的可变瞬心外骨骼设计与研究

针对现有下肢外骨骼结构与躯体匹配度较低的问题,通过在现有反四边形关节的基础上引入额外的自由度,提出了一种气动人工肌肉驱动的新型可变瞬心人工膝关节。结合可变瞬心外骨骼的运动学分析对其瞬心轨迹方程进行了求解,并采用粒子群算法对膝关节结构进行了优化设计;采用模糊PID控制器对其运动进行了仿真与分析,并进行了实验研究。研究结果表明:提出的新型可变瞬心人工膝关节的瞬心轨迹与人体关节理想瞬心轨迹具有更好的匹配度,为具有人机相容性结构的优化设计提供参考与经验支持。