パターン構造筋：異方性柔軟構造を利用した筋骨格ロボット用任意形状ワイヤ駆動人工筋
Patterned Structure Muscle : Arbitrary Shaped Wire-driven Artificial Muscle Utilizing Anisotropic Flexible Structure for Musculoskeletal Robots
3Dプリントした異方性パターン構造とワイヤ駆動を組み合わせ、湾曲・平板・分岐など任意形状の人工筋を作製し、筋骨格ロボットの上腕で広可動域や重量物把持、環境接触動作を実証した。
著者: Shunnosuke Yoshimura, Akihiro Miki, Kazuhiro Miyama, Yuta Sahara, Kento Kawaharazuka, Kei Okada, Masayuki Inaba
分類: cs.RO
原文アブストラクト
Muscles of the human body are composed of tiny actuators made up of myosin and actin filaments. They can exert force in various shapes such as curved or flat, under contact forces and deformations from the environment. On the other hand, muscles in musculoskeletal robots so far have faced challenges in generating force in such shapes and environments. To address this issue, we propose Patterned Structure Muscle (PSM), artificial muscles for musculoskeletal robots. PSM utilizes patterned structures with anisotropic characteristics, wire-driven mechanisms, and is made of flexible material Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) using FDM 3D printing. This method enables the creation of various shapes of muscles, such as simple 1 degree-of-freedom (DOF) muscles, Multi-DOF wide area muscles, joint-covering muscles, and branched muscles. We created an upper arm structure using these muscles to demonstrate wide range of motion, lifting heavy objects, and movements through environmental contact. These experiments show that the proposed PSM is capable of operating in various shapes and environments, and is suitable for the muscles of musculoskeletal robots.
