Modelling, design and control of compliant joints to mimic lower kinematic pairs

基于柔顺关节的机构提供了一种替代基于刚性部件之间接触的传统机构。后一类机构的精度有限，因为其关节中不可避免地存在间隙和摩擦。柔顺机构具有更高的精度，使其成为微纳制造、生物医学、光学等学科的关键工具。另一方面，这些机构仍然面临一些挑战：它们的运动范围往往有限；它们对横向载荷敏感；它们的带宽很窄。在这项拟议的研究中，我们将开发柔顺关节来提高柔顺机构在这三个方面的性能。柔顺接头还具有重量轻、各向异性高等潜在优势。这两个特性可以结合在一起来设计可以在绞车上缠绕的棱柱形接头，从而为非常小的存储体积提供大跨度。这样的接头然后可以与电缆耦合。这将导致一类新的并联机器人机械手相对于它们的缩回尺寸表现出非常大的工作空间。这种机制的设想应用是在航空航天、结构部署和机器人操纵；但也在地面机器人中，潜在地开发出体积更小、与环境很好地集成、成本更低的机制。

Mechanisms based on compliant joints offer an alternative to conventional mechanisms based on the contact between rigid parts. The latter class of mechanisms has limited accuracy, due to the inevitable clearance and friction in its joints. Compliant mechanisms offer higher precision, which makes them a critical tool in disciplines such as micro- and nano-fabrication, biomedicine, optics, etc. On the other hand, these mechanisms still face some challenges: Their range of motions is often limited; they are sensitive to transverse loads; and their bandwidth is narrow. In this proposed research, we will develop compliant joints to improve the performance of compliant mechanisms in all three aspects. Compliant joints also have potential advantages such as lightweight and high anisotropy. These two properties can be combined to design prismatic joints that can be wound on winches, yielding a large span for a very small storage volume. Such joints can then be coupled with cables. This will result in a new class of parallel robotic manipulators exhibiting very large workspaces with respect to their retracted sizes. Envisioned applications for such mechanisms are in aerospace, for the deployment of structures, and robotic manipulation; but also in terrestrial robotics, with the potential development of mechanisms that are less bulky, well integrated into their environment, and less expensive.