Variable Volumetric Stiffness Fluid Mount Design

Design of Variable Damping and Stiffness Matrices

amping and stiffness control in a telerobotic system allows the programmer to define the master and slave dynamics to suit a given task. Unfortunately, many requirements for good teleoperation produce conflicting choices of desired dynamic parameters for different tasks. It is proposed here that the master and slave damping and stiffness matrices be functionally dependent on b e n d and command...

Mechanical Influences on the Design of Actuators with Variable Stiffness

In the 1990s compliant joint actuation was introduced to robotics with the Series Elastic Actuator [1] and the Mechanical Impedance Adjuster [2]. Such concepts provide safer human-robot interaction, can store energy and decrease force control effort [1]. In the following decades, energy efficient actuation with such concepts had high impact in mobile applications such as bipedal robots, since t...

Design of a Variable Stiffness Soft Dexterous Gripper

This article presents the design of a variable stiffness, soft, three-fingered dexterous gripper. The gripper uses two designs of McKibben muscles. Extensor muscles that increase in length when pressurized are used to form the fingers of the gripper. Contractor muscles that decrease in length when pressurized are then used to apply forces to the fingers through tendons, which cause flexion and ...

Energy Efficient Variable Stiffness Actuators: Conceptual Design and Implementation

Dynamically variable negative stiffness structures

Variable stiffness structures that enable a wide range of efficient load-bearing and dexterous activity are ubiquitous in mammalian musculoskeletal systems but are rare in engineered systems because of their complexity, power, and cost. We present a new negative stiffness-based load-bearing structure with dynamically tunable stiffness. Negative stiffness, traditionally used to achieve novel res...