SBIR Phase I: Compliant Force Control Module for Linear Actuators

该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力主要在于其对康复机器人，辅助技术和协作机器人领域的贡献。从事这些领域的设备和产品开发的技术人员大大受益于电信行业增长带来的电子产品价格下降，但这些技术人员却没有？我们还没有准备好使用顺应性控制的致动器，这些致动器使物理机器人与人类的交互安全。开发这样的执行器是昂贵的，它需要很长的时间，它需要非常具体和罕见的专业知识。 一种新的廉价的（与现有技术相比），高度可反向驱动的线性致动器进入市场将使新一代的机器人康复和辅助产品，以及合作机器人，甚至可能是具有触觉反馈的游戏界面成为可能。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将专注于开发顺应力控制模块（CFCM）的概念验证，用于将简单的线性螺杆驱动致动器转换为高度可反向驱动的力控制致动器。 合作机器人有很大的兴趣和机会，但为了让这些设备安全地操纵物体并与人类进行触觉交互，它们必须具有内在的安全性。 顺应力控制致动器可以使这种协作机器人安全，但由于其新奇，这种设备在商业上不可用。 将实施专有的力传感器设计，并将研究各种方法，以实现硬件和软件中具有足够稳定裕度的高性能。 将对控制算法方法进行研究，以尽量减少机械游隙、静摩擦和惯性的影响。 将研究使用粘弹性材料作为柔顺元件来代替纯弹性元件（弹簧）以减轻在经济的机械传动中发现的机械问题的潜力。 所提出的努力的最终目标是证明改进的力控制性能的现成的线性致动器时，配备CFCM技术。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project lies primarily in its contribution to the rehabilitation robotics, assistive technologies and collaborative robotics fields. Technologists engaged in developing devices and products in these fields are greatly benefiting from the lower prices of electronics brought on by the growth of the telecommunications industry, but those same technologists don?t have ready access to compliantly controlled actuators that make physical robot-human interaction safe. Developing such actuators is costly, it takes a long time, and it requires very specific and rare expertise. The introduction of a new line of inexpensive (as compared to existing technologies), highly backdrivable linear actuators onto the market will enable a new breed of robotic rehabilitation and assistive products, as well as co-robots and perhaps even gaming interfaces with haptic feedback.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will focus on developing a proof of concept of the compliant force control module (CFCM), for converting simple linear screw-driven actuators into highly backdrivable, force-controlled actuators. There is great interest and opportunity in co-robots, but in order for these devices to safely manipulate objects and interact haptically with humans, they must be inherently safe. Compliant force-controlled actuators can render such co-robots safe, but due to their novelty such equipment is not commercially available. A proprietary force sensor design will be implemented and research will be performed on various methods for achieving high performance with sufficient stability margins in both hardware and software. Research will be performed on control algorithm approaches for minimizing the effects of mechanical play, stiction and inertia. The use of visco-elastic materials as the compliant element to replace the purely elastic elements (springs) will be investigated for the potential to mitigate the mechanical issues found in economical mechanical transmissions. The ultimate goal of the proposed effort is to demonstrate the improved force-control performance of an off-the-shelf linear actuator when equipped with the CFCM technology.