Control of non-linear actuator of artificial muscles for the use in low-cost robotics prosthetics limbs

4th International Conference on Mechanical Engineering Research

Atikah, Nurul Anis^4 ; Weng, Leong Yeng^1,4 ; Anuar, Adzly^2,4 ; Fat, Chau Chien^1,4 ; Sahari, Khairul Salleh Mohamed^2,4 ; Abidin, Izham Zainal^3,4

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, Kajang, Selangor

43000, Malaysia^1

Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, Kajang, Selangor

43000, Malaysia^2

Department of Electrical Power Engineering, College of Engineering, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, Kajang, Selangor

43000, Malaysia^3

CAMARO Research Group, Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, Kajang, Selangor

43000, Malaysia^4

关键词: Artificial muscle;    Electrically conductive;    Fluid materials;    Force generation;    Manufacturing cost;    Non linear control;    Performance characteristics;    Prosthetic limbs;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/257/1/012073/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1757-899X/257/1/012073

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

Currently, the methods of actuating robotic-based prosthetic limbs are moving away from bulky actuators to more fluid materials such as artificial muscles. The main disadvantages of these artificial muscles are their high cost of manufacturing, low-force generation, cumbersome and complex controls. A recent discovery into using super coiled polymer (SCP) proved to have low manufacturing costs, high force generation, compact and simple controls. Nevertheless, the non-linear controls still exists due to the nature of heat-based actuation, which is hysteresis. This makes position control difficult. Using electrically conductive devices allows for very quick heating, but not quick cooling. This research tries to solve the problem by using peltier devices, which can effectively heat and cool the SCP, hence giving way to a more precise control. The peltier device does not actively introduce more energy to a volume of space, which the coiled heating does; instead, it acts as a heat pump. Experiments were conducted to test the feasibility of using peltier as an actuating method on different diameters of nylon fishing strings. Based on these experiments, the performance characteristics of the strings were plotted, which could be used to control the actuation of the string efficiently in the future.