Design of a Hall effect sensor controlled brittle star inspired composite robotic limb

Abstract This paper elucidates a method of actuation and feedback for hard-soft composite continuum pentapod appendages to enable both kinematic accuracy gait. A mechanism based on Hall effect sensors is integrated within hard exterior/soft interior robotic limb, which unaffected by actuator slippage, provides accurate (sub 2°) end point measurements. The proposed uses two actuators control full semi-spherical range motion, an improvement the use three more commonly reported in literature. When applied gait complete brittle star inspired pentapod, we find that our design reaches momentum 0.52 kg · m s −1 , surpassing previously untethered starfish pentapods 3.7 times.