PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

While classical robotics traditionally makes use of stiff constructions in order to achieve a high precision, there is on-going research in development and control of new compliant robotic systems. These systems are suitable for direct human-machine-interaction due to their elastic behavior. The compliance is mostly achieved by control or by the integration of steel springs into the joint drives. This paper proposes a novel approach based on a sensorized elastomer coupling. Due to its damping characteristics, the interaction-safety can be improved in comparison to steel spring or purely control based approaches. The presented coupling is an integral part of a self-contained drive system which is also introduced. Simulation results of the strain/torsion and torque/torsion relationship for different geometrical variations of the elastomer coupling and experimental data of a prototype are presented. Since the sensorized coupling provides torsion measurements of the elastomer inlay, a system identification approach was employed to derive nonlinear and linear models of the coupling which can later be used in model-based joint-control. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.