Rapid Manufacture of Novel Variable Impedance Robots

Variable stiffness and variable damping can play an important role in robot movement, particularly for legged robots such as bipedal walkers. Variable impedance also introduces new control problems, since there are more degrees of freedom to control, and the resulting robot has more complex dynamics. In this paper, we introduce novel design and fabrication methodologies that are capable of producing cost effective hardware prototypes suitable for investigating the efficacy of impedance modulation. We present two variable impedance bipedal platforms produced using a combination of waterjet cutting and 3D printing, and a novel fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing based method for producing hybrid plastic/metal parts. We evaluate walking trajectories at different speeds and stiffness levels. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4030388]