斯坦福大学网络视频课程跟机器人学.doc

[斯坦福大学网络视频课程之机器人学] Instructor (Oussama Khatib):Okay, let’s get started. So today’s movie segment is about a special actuator. Probably you saw this on the first lecture, but we will see some more details. So this is a flexible actuator that comes from Toshiba, and this was developed in the early ’90s. It was presented at 1991 video proceedings. [Video]: This new actuator is made of fiber re-enforced rubber and is driven pneumatically or hydraulically. It has 3 degrees of freedom; pitch, [inaudible], and stretch, which are adequate for robot mechanisms such as fingers, arms or legs. The actuator has three internal chambers, and the pressure in each can be controlled independently though flexible tubes. The rubber is circularly re-enforced with fiber to reduce deformation in the radial direction. The actuator can be flexed in every direction by controlling the pressure in each chamber. [Inaudible] developed actuators ranging in size from 1 millimeter to 20 millimeters in diameter. This is the formula meter actuator. The design is easily miniaturized because of its simple structure. This is a modified version. The rubber is reinforced spirally with fiber so that rotational movement is possible. We can apply these flexible micro-actuators to miniature robot manipulators. By connecting them serially, we get an arm with many degrees of freedom and snake like movements. This is a prototype consisting of two actuators and a mini gripper. It has 7 degrees of freedom including the gripper. It can accomplish delicate tasks, which could be handled only with great difficulty by conventional robots. Constructing miniature robot manipulators is easy because the actuators also act as the robot structure. On the other had, combining the actuators in parallel results in a multifingered robot hand. They form a dexterous hand with a delicate touch. This prototype consists of four actuators, each 12 millimeters in diameter, and it has 12 degrees of freedom. It’s able to handle fragile a