Stiffness Control of Variable Serial Elastic Actuators: Energy Efficiency through Exploitation of Natural Dynamics

Variable elastic actuators are very promising for applications in physical human–robot interaction. Besides enabling human safety, such actuators can support energy efficiency, especially if the natural behavior of the system is exploited. In this paper, the power and energy consumption of variable stiffness actuators with serial elasticity is investigated analytically and experimentally. Besides the fundamental mechanics, the influence of friction and electrical losses is discussed. A simple but effective stiffness control method is used to exploit the corresponding knowledge of natural dynamics by tuning the system to antiresonance operation. Despite nonlinear friction effects and additional electrical dynamics, the consideration of the ideal mechanical dynamics is completely sufficient for stiffness control. Simulations and experiments show that this yields a distinct reduction in power and energy consumption, which underlines the suitability of the control strategy.