A better understanding of how actuator design supports locomotor function may help develop novel and more functional powered assistive devices or robotic legged systems. Legged robots comprise passive parts (e.g., segments, joints and connections) which are moved in a coordinated manner by actuators. In this study, we propose a novel concept of a hybrid electric-pneumatic actuator (EPA) as an e...

PURPOSE To examine the suprathreshold scaling of pneumatic stimuli, and the ratings of discomfort and intensity under clear and defocused visual conditions. METHODS Twenty-one participants rated sensory intensity and discomfort of a series of mechanical stimuli from a pneumatic esthesiometer, using a 0 to 100 numerical scale under clear and defocused visual conditions. Esthesiometry was perfo...

Introduction Pneumatic artificial rubber muscle (PARM) is a pneumatically driven actuator that provides mechanical effects similar in principle to those of muscle contraction. PARM is a novel actuator that has a high weight-power ratio and maximum contraction over the nominal length is 20%. As shown in Figure 1 , PARM is composed of a rubber tube impregnated with fibers. Teleoperation of pneuma...

In this paper, we focus on the frequent glitches of general family cars. Based on the Neural Network theory and combining with the Micro-chip processor technology, we design an expert system-‘‘Integrated Cars Repairing Tools” (ICRT) and the size of the proposed ICRT is quite small and achieves the following attractive functions: (1) Portable Electric-jack, (2) Electric Tire-pressure-meter, (3) ...

This paper presents the design, fabrication and analysis of two degrees freedom (2DOF) model gantry hybrid robots. The robotmechanism, comprising a series parallel component, provides vast range workspace accuracy. Pneumatic actuators are extensively utilized in industrial settings due to their low cost, compact size, high power-to-weight ratio, reliability. However, nonlinear dynamic character...

Prior to the widespread adoption of electrical and electronic controls, buildings often used pneumatic control systems. Large and powerful compressors drove 3psi to 15psi pneumatic signals throughout a plant and these pneumatic lines connected to pneumatically controlled valves and pneumatically controlling valves in order to drive proportional controls and actuators throughout the building, al...

The paper is on the control of a robotic arm actuated by a pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM) system. A conventional proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller with active force control (AFC) is employed to control the robot arm assigned to operate a prescribed task. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy compared to the PID control only scheme. The res...