A Parallel-Elastic Actuator for a Torque-Controlled Back-Support Exoskeleton
Year:
2018
Type of item:
Articolo in Rivista
Tipologia ANVUR:
Articolo su rivista
Language:
Inglese
Format:
Elettronico
Referee:
Sì
Name of journal:
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
ISSN of journal:
2377-3766
N° Volume:
3
Number or Folder:
1
Page numbers:
492-499
Keyword:
Exoskeletons, Force Control, Parallel elastic Actuators
Short description of contents:
An actuated back-support exoskeleton to assist manual handling is presented. Its objective is to provide a significant portion of the forces necessary to carry out the physical task, thereby reducing the compressive loads on the lumbar spine and the associated risk of injury. The design rationale for a parallel-elastic actuator (PEA) is proposed to match the asymmetrical torque requirements associated to the target task. The parallel spring relaxes the maximum motor torque requirements, with substantial effects on the resulting torque-control performance. A formal analysis and experimen- tal evaluation is presented with the goal of documenting the improvement in performance. To this end, the proposed PEA is compared with a more traditional configuration without the parallel spring. The analytical and experimental results highlight the importance of the motor inertia reflected through the gearbox, and indicate two- to six-fold improvements in the proposed measures of torque-control performance.
Product ID:
101676
Handle IRIS:
11562/976144
Last Modified:
November 11, 2022
Bibliographic citation:
Toxiri, Stefano; Calanca, Andrea; Ortiz, Jesus; Fiorini, Paolo; Caldwell, Darwin G.,
A Parallel-Elastic Actuator for a Torque-Controlled Back-Support Exoskeleton«IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS»
, vol. 3
, n. 1
, 2018
, pp. 492-499