The performance of the pneumatic servo systems improved greatly as the pneumatic servo valves became commercially available in the late 1980s. At present, one of the best pneumatic servo valves has a dynamic response of 100 Hz and a spool position accuracy of 2% to the full stroke. By using these pneumatic servo valves, the precise position control by the pneumatic servo system has entered a pr...

Based on flexible pneumatic bending joint and flexible pneumatic spherical joint, a kind of flexible pneumatic 5-DOF finger is proposed, which is composed of two bending joints and a spherical joint. The mathematic model of flexible pneumatic spherical joint is further analyzed. On the researching foundation of flexible pneumatic bending joint and flexible pneumatic spherical joint, the kinemat...

The success of Marquardt’s gas-powered prosthesis (Marquardt and Haefner 1955) had aroused general interest before the thalidomide tragedy in 1962. The urgent need for functional prostheses not needing strong controlling movements, and giving at least three powered movements, has further stimulated research, so that work in this field is growing rapidly in many countries. The programme begun in...

Development of automation and robotization in manufacturing process stimulates interest in pneumatic servo-systems whose advantages include low manufacturing costs, high dynamics and reliability (Situm et al., 2004). Unsatisfactory positioning accuracy of multiaxis pneumatic servosytems considerably reduces their application in manipulating machines, manipulators and robots. Rapid advance in pa...

The design and dynamic characterization of a free piston compressor (FPC) is presented in this paper. The FPC is a proposed device that utilizes combustion of a hydrocarbon fuel to compress air into a high-pressure supply tank, thus serving as a portable pneumatic power supply for mobile untethered robotic systems. The device is configured such that the transduction from thermal energy to store...

The power to weight ratio of the actuators is an important design factor for running robots. In this regard pleated pneumatic artificial muscles are excellent actuators. Another advantage is that they can actuate a joint directly, avoiding the additional weight and cost of a gearbox. Obviously the weight of the pressure control valves has to be taken into consideration as well. For this applica...

This dissertation reports on the developments of the bipedal walking robot Lucy. Special about it is that the biped is not actuated with the classical electrical drives but with pleated pneumatic artificial muscles. In an antagonistic setup of such muscles both the torque and the compliance are controllable. From human walking there is evidence that compliance plays an important role in energy ...