Development of Flexible Microactuator and Its Applications to Robotic Mechanisms

A flexible microactuator (FMA) driven by an electro-pneumatic (or electro-hydraulic) system has been developed. The FMA has three degrees of freedom: pitch, yaw, and stretch; and these are suitable movements for miniature robotic mechanisms such as fingers, arms or legs. The construction is of fiber-reinforced rubber and the mechanism is very simple. Gentle miniature robots with no conventional links can be designed using this design. This paper presented the FMA's basic characteristics and its applications to certain robot mechanisms. Serially connected FMAs act as a miniature robot manipulator. The kinematics and control algorithm for this type of robot are presented. On the other hand, FMAs combined in parallel act as a multi-fingered robot hand. Each FMA represents a finger. An algorithm for the cooperative control of such FMAs, the stable region for holding, and its performance are presented.