Contraction Sensing with Smart Braid McKibben Muscles.

ABSTRACT: The inherent compliance of soft fluidic actuators makes them attractive for use in wearable devices and soft robotics. Their flexible nature permits them to be used without traditional rotational or prismatic joints. Without these joints, however, measuring the motion of the actuators is challenging. Actuator-level sensors could improve the performance of continuum robots and robots with compliant or multi-degree-of-freedom joints. We make the reinforcing braid of a pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM or McKibben muscle) "smart" by weaving it from conductive, insulated wires. These wires form a solenoid-like circuit with an inductance that more than doubles over the PAM contraction. The reinforcing and sensing fibers can be used to measure the contraction of a PAM actuator with a simple, line

SUBMITTER: Felt W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5424474 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature