CAREER: Muscle-Inspired Load-Adaptive Actuation for Compliant Robotics

该学院早期职业发展计划(CALEAR)项目将通过有利于可穿戴技术和外骨骼的生物启发机器人领域的科学进步，促进国家健康、福利和安全。这项研究将通过使用固有的软驱动器来提高机器人的能效和性能，同时改善人与机器人的交互兼容性和安全性，从而为社会做出重要贡献。执行器是机器或机器人的关键部件，负责移动和控制机构或系统组件。目前的机器人执行器不太适合可穿戴式或人类辅助应用，因为它们在移动手臂或腿等缓慢、可变速度的运动时效率低下。此外，由于它们的僵硬和僵硬的运动，它们会造成人体安全危险。这项研究将创造一种受人类肌肉组织启发的新型致动器，人体肌肉组织含有数千种纤维，这些纤维被选择性地招募来仅提供给定任务所需的作用力。设计人造肌肉来纳入这种选择性招募的概念将使机器人消耗更少的能量，从而增加电池寿命和续航里程。它还将允许同一执行器根据任务的不同，同时产生温和、精确的运动以及高力、高速运动，同时还结合了柔软的结构和可控的刚度。这一新方法将有助于使辅助机器人更安全、更舒适、更符合人类生理，所有这些都将为那些遭受衰弱伤害或残疾的人提供更快、更有效的康复。这项研究为帮助残疾年轻人提供了很好的外展机会；外展活动将帮助激励他们，并向他们展示如何利用工程来改善他们的生活和他们周围人的生活。通过实施受生物启发的有序招募的概念来创建集成的流体人造肌肉组织，包含不同大小的可选致动元素，可以改善执行器的效率和性能。这种组织可以通过招募不同的致动器组合来动态适应负荷的变化。这种有序的招聘方案通过减少工作液消耗和最大限度地减少节流损失来节省能源。由于流量需求降低，它还允许更大范围的力生成和更快的响应时间。这项研究的目标是(1)了解选择性招募流体人工肌肉组织的招募状态、压力、力、收缩和速度之间的关系；(2)建立拓扑对性能的影响，并创建一个框架，以优化组织以满足机器人操作任务和要求；(3)了解招募控制架构的含义；以及(4)展示行走机器人平台上的带宽改善、可变合规性和能量节约。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) project will advance the national health, welfare, and security through scientific advancements in the field of biologically-inspired robotics favorable for wearable technology and exoskeletons. The research will make important contributions to society by increasing robot energy efficiency and performance while simultaneously improving human-robot interaction compatibility and safety through the use of inherently soft actuators. Actuators are critical component of a machine or robot that are responsible for moving and controlling a mechanism or components of a system. Current robotic actuators are poorly suited to wearable or human-assistive applications because they are inefficient when used in slow, variable-speed motions like moving an arm or leg. In addition, they create human safety hazards due to their stiffness and rigid motions. This research will create a new type of actuator that is inspired by human muscle tissues, which contain thousands of fibers that are selectively recruited to provide only the amount of force needed for a given task. Engineering artificial muscles to incorporate this concept of selective recruitment will allow the robot to consume less energy, therefore increasing battery life and range. It will also allow the same actuator to generate both gentle, precise motion as well as high-force, high-speed motion, depending on the task, while also incorporating soft construction and controllable stiffness. This new approach will help make assistive robotics safer, more comfortable, and more compatible with human physiology, all of which will provide more rapid and effective recovery for those suffering from debilitating injuries or disabilities. This research lends itself well to outreach opportunities to work with young people who suffer from disabilities; the outreach activities will help inspire them and show them how engineering can be used to improve their lives and the lives of those around them.Improvements in actuator efficiency and performance can be made by implementing the biologically-inspired concept of orderly recruitment to create an integrated fluidic artificial muscle tissue that contains selectable actuation elements of different sizes. This tissue can dynamically adapt to changes in load by recruiting different combinations of actuators. This orderly recruitment scheme conserves energy by reducing working fluid consumption and minimizing throttling losses. It also allows for a wide gamut of force generation and fast response time due to reduced flow rate demand. The goals of this research are to (1) understand the relationships between recruitment state, pressure, force, contraction, and velocity for selective-recruitment fluidic artificial muscle tissues; (2) establish the effects of topology on performance and create a framework for optimizing tissues to robot operating tasks and requirements; (3) understand implications of recruitment control architecture; and (4) demonstrate bandwidth improvements, variable compliance, and energetic savings on a walking robot platform.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.