Related papers: Novel Spring Mechanism Enables Iterative Energy Ac…
Springs are efficient in storing and returning elastic potential energy but are unable to hold the energy they store in the absence of an external load. Lockable springs use clutches to hold elastic potential energy in the absence of an…
This paper is dedicated to the development of a novel adaptive torsion spring mechanism for optimizing energy consumption in legged robots. By adjusting the equilibrium position and stiffness of the spring, the system improves energy…
Spring-driven jumping robots use an energised spring for propulsion, while the onboard motor only serves as a spring-charging source. A common mechanism in designing these robots is the rhomboidal linkage, which has been combined with…
Springs store mechanical energy similar to batteries storing electrical energy. However, conventional springs are heavy and store limited amounts of mechanical energy relative to batteries, i.e they have low mass-energy-density.…
A spring in parallel with an effort source (e.g., electric motor or human muscle) can reduce its energy consumption and effort (i.e., torque or force) depending on the spring stiffness, spring preload, and actuation task. However, selecting…
Springs are commonly used in wearable robotic devices to provide assistive joint torque without the need for motors and batteries. However, different tasks (such as walking or running) and different users (such as athletes with strong legs…
A hopping leg, no matter in legged animals or humans, usually behaves like a spring during the periodic hopping. Hopping like a spring is efficient and without the requirement of complicated control algorithms. Position and force control…
Previous design methodologies for spring-driven jumping robots focused on jump height optimization for specific tasks. In doing so, numerous designs have been proposed including using nonlinear spring-linkages to increase the elastic energy…
Robotic Hopping is challenging from the perspective of both modeling the dynamics as well as the mechanical design due to the short period of ground contact in which to actuate on the world. Previous work has demonstrated stable hopping on…
Compliant robotics have seen successful applications in energy efficient locomotion and cyclic manipulation. However, exploitation of variable physical impedance for energy efficient sequential movements has not been extensively addressed.…
Energy efficiency is critical to the success of legged robotics. Efficiency is lost through wasted energy during locomotion and standing. Including elastic elements has been shown to reduce movement costs, while including breaks can reduce…
A general expression for the elastic potential energy of a helical spring is derived using the basic concepts of elasticity theory and geometry. Both the translational and the rotational displacement of the spring's moving ends are…
Quadruped robots are often designed with rigid feet to simplify control and maintain stable contact during locomotion. While this approach is straightforward, it limits the ability of the legs to absorb impact forces and reuse stored…
Collaborative robots must simultaneously be safe enough to operate in close proximity to human operators and powerful enough to assist users in industrial tasks such as lifting heavy equipment. The requirement for safety necessitates that…
Wearable and legged robot designers face multiple challenges when choosing actuation. Traditional fully actuated designs using electric motors are multifunctional but oversized and inefficient for bearing conservative loads and for being…
The ability to convert reciprocating, i.e., alternating, actuation into rotary motion using linkages is hindered fundamentally by their poor torque transmission capability around kinematic singularity configurations. Here, we harness the…
Vibration Energy Harvesting is an emerging technology aimed at turning mechanical energy from vibrations into electricity to power microsystems of the future. Most of present vibration energy harvesters are based on a mass spring structure…
We considered a novel energy storage system based on the compression of air through pumped water. Differently from CAES on trial, the proposed indirect compression leaves the opportunity to choose the kind of compression from adiabatic to…
Legged robots offer several advantages when navigating unstructured environments, but they often fall short of the efficiency achieved by wheeled robots. One promising strategy to improve their energy economy is to leverage their natural…
As wearable electronics become increasingly prevalent, there is a rise in interest and demand for sustainably designed systems that are also energy self-sufficient. The research described in this paper investigated a shoe-worn energy…