@article {2904, title = {Variable Stiffness Actuators: Review on Design and Components}, journal = { IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics }, volume = {21}, year = {2016}, month = {10/2016}, pages = {2418 - 2430}, abstract = {

Variable stiffness actuators (VSAs) are complex mechatronic devices that are developed to build passively compliant, robust, and dexterous robots. Numerous different hardware designs have been developed in the past two decades to address various demands on their functionality. This review paper gives a guide to the design process from the analysis of the desired tasks identifying the relevant attributes and their influence on the selection of different components such as motors, sensors, and springs. The influence on the performance of different principles to generate the passive compliance and the variation of the stiffness are investigated. Furthermore, the design contradictions during the engineering process are explained in order to find the best suiting solution for the given purpose. With this in mind, the topics of output power, potential energy capacity, stiffness range, efficiency, and accuracy are discussed. Finally, the dependencies of control, models, sensor setup, and sensor quality are addressed.

}, keywords = {Robotics}, doi = {10.1109/TMECH.2015.2501019}, url = {http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=\&arnumber=7330025}, author = {S. Wolf and G. Grioli and O. Eiberger and W. Friedl and M. Grebenstein and H. Hoppner and E. Burdet and D. G. Caldwell and R. Carloni and M. G. Catalano and D. Lefeber and S. Stramigioli and N. G. Tsagarakis and M. Van Damme and R. Van Ham and B. Vanderborght and L. C. Visser and A. Bicchi and A Albu-Schaeffer} } @article {2540, title = {A muscle-like recruitment actuator with modular redundant actuation units for soft robotics}, journal = {Robotics and Autonomous Systems}, volume = {74}, year = {2015}, note = {

This work was supported by\ ERC-291166-SOFTHANDS

}, month = {12/2015}, pages = {40-50}, keywords = {Robotics}, doi = {10.1016/j.robot.2015.06.010}, url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921889015001384}, author = {G. Mathijssen and J. Schultz and B. Vanderborght and A. Bicchi} } @conference {2478, title = {Potential merits for space robotics from novel concepts of actuation for soft robotics}, booktitle = {Advanced Space Technologies for Robotics and Automation (ASTRA) }, year = {2015}, address = {Noordwijk, The Netherlands May 11-13, 2015}, keywords = {Robotics}, author = {G. Mathijssen and S. Terryn and R. Funemont and M. Garabini and M. G. Catalano and G. Grioli and D. Lefeber and A. Bicchi and B. Vanderborght} } @conference {2561, title = {A Selective Recruitment Strategy for Exploiting Muscle-Like Actuator Impedance Properties}, booktitle = {IEEE International Conference of Intelligent Robots and Systems - IROS2015}, year = {2015}, pages = {2231-2237}, publisher = {IEEE}, organization = {IEEE}, address = {Hamburg, Germany, 28 Sept - 2 Oct 2015}, abstract = {

Two leading qualities of skeletal muscle that produce good performance in uncertain environments are damage tolerance and the ability to modulate impedance. For this reason, robotics researchers are greatly interested in discovering the key characteristics of muscles that give them these properties and replicating them in actuators for robotic devices. This paper describes a method to harness the redundancy present in muscle-like actuation systems composed of multiple motor units and shows that they have these same two qualities. By carefully choosing which motor units are recruited, the impedance viewed from the environment can be modulated while maintaining the same overall activation level. The degree to which the impedance can be controlled varies with total activation level and actuator length.

Discretizing the actuation effort into multiple parts that work together, inspired by the way muscle fibers work in the human body, produces damage-tolerant behavior. This paper shows that this not only produces reasonably good resolutions without inordinate numbers of units, but gives the control system the ability to set the impedance along with the drive effort to the load.

}, keywords = {Robotics}, doi = {10.1109/IROS.2015.7353676}, author = {J. Shultz and G. Mathijssen and B. Vanderborght and A. Bicchi} } @article {2080, title = {Variable Stiffness Actuators: the user{\textquoteright}s point of view}, journal = {Int. J. Robotics Research}, volume = {34}, year = {2015}, note = {

Extensions.zip

}, month = {05/2015}, pages = {727-743}, keywords = {Robotics}, doi = {10.1177/0278364914566515}, url = {http://ijr.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/0278364914566515v1.pdf?ijkey=anmgudvoLz7ZloP\&keytype=finite}, author = {G. Grioli and S. Wolf and M. Garabini and M. G. Catalano and E. Burdet and D. G. Caldwell and R. Carloni and W. Friedl and M. Grebenstein and M. Laffranchi and D. Lefeber and S. Stramigioli and N G Tsagarakis and M. Van Damme and B. Vanderborght and A Albu-Schaeffer and A. Bicchi} } @article {1698, title = {Variable Impedance Actuators: a Review}, journal = {Robotics and Autonomous Systems}, volume = {61}, year = {2013}, note = {

Available online 6 August 2013

}, month = {12/2013}, pages = {1601{\textendash}1614}, abstract = {

Variable Impedance Actuators (VIA) have received increasing attention in recent years as many novel applications involving interactions with an unknown and dynamic environment including humans require actuators with dynamics that are not well-achieved by classical stiff actuators. This paper presents an overview of the different VIAs developed and proposes a classification based on the principles through which the variable stiffness and damping are achieved. The main classes are active impedance by control, inherent compliance and damping actuators, inertial actuators, and combinations of them, which are then further divided into subclasses. This classification allows for designers of new devices to orientate and take inspiration and users of VIA{\textquoteright}s to be guided in the design and implementation process for their targeted application.

}, keywords = {Robotics, Soft robotics, Variable Impedance Actuators}, url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921889013001188}, author = {B. Vanderborght and A Albu-Schaeffer and A. Bicchi and E. Burdet and D. G. Caldwell and R. Carloni and M. G. Catalano and O. Eiberger and W. Friedl and G. Ganesh and M. Garabini and M. Grebenstein and G. Grioli and S. Haddadin and H. Hoppner and A. Jafari and M. Laffranchi and D. Lefeber and F. Petit and S. Stramigioli and N G Tsagarakis and M. Van Damme and R. Van Ham and L. C. Visser and S. Wolf} } @article {1245, title = {Variable Impedance Actuators: Moving the Robots of Tomorrow}, year = {2012}, keywords = {Robotics}, author = {B. Vanderborght and A Albu-Schaeffer and A. Bicchi and E. Burdet and D. G. Caldwell and R. Carloni and M. G. Catalano and G. Ganesh and M. Garabini and G. Grioli and S. Haddadin and A. Jafari and M. Laffranchi and D. Lefeber and F. Petit and S. Stramigioli and N G Tsagarakis and M. Van Damme and R. Van Ham and L. C. Visser and S. Wolf} }