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Enables operation at high-force and high-speed, precise force control, disengagement with minimal energy input, and high back-drivability.

Background

Existing robotic actuators often face limitations including: low torque-to-weight ratio, backlash, mechanical wear, sensitivity to environmental conditions, difficulty achieving high precision at high speeds, limited flexibility, and complex control requirements which can restrict their performance in applications demanding high payload capacity, precise movements, and adaptability to different environments; particularly with traditional rigid actuators like electric motors and muscle systems, which can struggle with complex tasks requiring dexterity or interaction with soft objects.

Technology Overview

The actuator technology enables the outputting of high force and high speed, precise force control, disengagement with minimal energy input, and is highly back-drivable with minimal or no backlash. The actuator can easily and freely disengage, similar to human muscle, and may be used in robotic applications such as tools and wearable strength enhancers that minimally affect a user’s range of motion and only provide force when requested by the user, as well as improve the efficiency of walking robots. The actuator is adaptable to a wide range of form factors and is modular and may be implemented in recruitable systems, enhancing adaptability and utility in robotic tendon and power transmission structures. The actuator is substantially freely back-drivable, allowing leveraging of intrinsic dynamics of robotic structures to maintain passive mechanical stability, improve energy efficiency, and gain an increased range of motion through joint actuation. For example, in a walking robot application, hip actuation without associated back-driving impedance allows free dynamic motion during ‘leg swing’ conducive to high gait efficiency while enabling the application of torque at the hip for improved controllability of step placement and timing.

The actuator design is scalable and power reconfigurable through independently control-able, redundant modular units. Increasing or decreasing the number of constitutive drive units proportionally changes the performance capability of the actuator. Through the recruitment of different modules, power requirements can also be scaled through discretized control. In this way, the actuator functions more like a digital device, although each modular unit can also be modulated proportionally to achieve higher fidelity control.