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Actuators
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Design and Control of Compliant Manipulators: Volume II
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Design and Control of Compliant Manipulators: Volume II

A special issue of Actuators (ISSN 2076-0825). This special issue belongs to the section "Actuators for Robotics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 December 2022) | Viewed by 10978

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Qingsong Xu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electromechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau 999078, China
Interests: MEMS/NEMS; micro/nano mechatronics; micro/nano systems; compliant mechanisms; soft robots; force and tactile sensing; sensors and actuators; smart materials and structures; robotics and automation; computational intelligence; intelligent control; robust and adaptive control; prognosis and diagnosis; structural health monitoring; energy harvesting

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As popular robotic devices, compliant manipulators are based on compliant mechanisms that deliver displacement/force by elastic deformation of the materials. Such devices produce smooth and repeatable motion without the issues of friction, backlash, or wear seen in conventional mechanisms. Motion transmission is realized by flexure hinges/beams/diaphragms, cables, springs, soft materials, etc. Targeting at different tasks, compliant manipulators can be driven by various actuators, such as smart material actuators (e.g., piezoelectric actuators, shape memory alloys, magnetostrictive actuators, ionic polymers, dielectric elastomers), electromagnetic actuators, fluidic/pneumatic actuators, electrothermal actuators, etc. Compliant manipulators have been applied extensively in different scenarios ranging from macro-, to micro-, to nano-scale. Example applications include micro/nano-manipulation, assembly automation, medical instruments, rehabilitation robots, biomedical engineering, and more. These applications are enabled by the design and implementation of sophisticated control strategies, involving motion control, force control, visual servo control, intelligent control, etc. The main focus of this Special Issue is on new design, control and applications of compliant manipulators dedicated to diverse science and engineering fields.

Prof. Dr. Qingsong Xu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Actuators is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • compliant mechanisms
  • flexure hinges
  • flexible structures
  • soft robots
  • cable-driven robots
  • micro/nano robots
  • smart materials actuators
  • electromagnetic actuators
  • soft actuators
  • bio-inspired robots
  • continuum robots
  • variable-stiffness devices
  • compliant grippers
  • MEMS devices
  • micro/nano-positioning
  • micro/nano-manipulation
  • rehabilitation robots
  • medical robots
  • biomedical devices
  • precision instruments
  • modeling
  • system identification
  • motion control
  • force control
  • visual servo control
  • intelligent control
  • robotics
  • mechatronics

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 4655 KiB  
Article
Automatic Optimization for Compliant Constant Force Mechanisms
by Zongdi Tong, Xiaozhi Zhang and Guangwei Wang
Actuators 2023, 12(2), 61; https://doi.org/10.3390/act12020061 - 30 Jan 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1930
Abstract
This paper presents an automatic optimization method for compliant constant force mechanisms, which eliminates the need for time-consuming parameter tuning and complex model design in the conventional design process. The proposed optimization framework is based on the finite-element analysis (FEA) and multi-objective genetic [...] Read more.
This paper presents an automatic optimization method for compliant constant force mechanisms, which eliminates the need for time-consuming parameter tuning and complex model design in the conventional design process. The proposed optimization framework is based on the finite-element analysis (FEA) and multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) methods and is designed in two steps: First, the preliminary mechanism design is carried out to roughly encompass the specified constant force objective; then, the preliminary model is optimized by applying a MOGA based on FEA results. The optimized model can achieve the desired performance automatically while achieving a larger constant force stroke, which is verified by performing FEA simulations and experimental studies. The experimental results demonstrate that the designed CFMs increase the constant force stroke by 16.3% while achieving the specified design accuracy compared to the preliminary prototype. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design and Control of Compliant Manipulators: Volume II)
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18 pages, 6711 KiB  
Article
Enhancing Dynamic Bandwidth of Amplified Piezoelectric Actuators by a Hybrid Lever and Bridge-Type Compliant Mechanism
by Mingxiang Ling, Lei Yuan, Zhihong Luo, Tao Huang and Xianmin Zhang
Actuators 2022, 11(5), 134; https://doi.org/10.3390/act11050134 - 12 May 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3307
Abstract
Ongoing interests in high-speed precision actuation continuously sparks great attention on developing fast amplified piezoelectric actuators (APAs) with compliant mechanisms. A new type of APA with enhanced resonance frequency is herein reported based on a hybrid compliant amplifying mechanism. A two-stage displacement flexure [...] Read more.
Ongoing interests in high-speed precision actuation continuously sparks great attention on developing fast amplified piezoelectric actuators (APAs) with compliant mechanisms. A new type of APA with enhanced resonance frequency is herein reported based on a hybrid compliant amplifying mechanism. A two-stage displacement flexure amplifier is proposed by synthesizing the lever-type and semi bridge-type compliant mechanisms in a compact configuration, promising to a well tradeoff between the displacement amplification ratio and dynamic bandwidth. The static and dynamic performances are experimentally evaluated. The resonance frequency of 2.1 kHz, displacement amplification ratio of 6, and step response time of around 0.4 ms are realized with a compact size of 50 mm × 44 mm × 7 mm. Another contribution of this paper is to develop a comprehensive two-port dynamic stiffness model to predict the static and dynamic behaviors of the compliant amplifier. The modeling approach presented here differs from previous studies in that it enables the traditional transfer matrix method to formulate both the kinetostatics and dynamics of compliant mechanisms including serial-parallel branches and rigid bodies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design and Control of Compliant Manipulators: Volume II)
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19 pages, 4197 KiB  
Article
Design and Testing of a New Piezoelectric-Actuated Symmetric Compliant Microgripper
by Zekui Lyu and Qingsong Xu
Actuators 2022, 11(3), 77; https://doi.org/10.3390/act11030077 - 3 Mar 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2923
Abstract
Precise and stable operations in micromanipulation and microassembly require a high-performance microgripper. To improve the predominant static and dynamic characteristics, a novel piezoelectric-actuated compliant microgripper is designed, analyzed, and tested in this paper. The microgripper realizes a large gripping stroke by integrating a [...] Read more.
Precise and stable operations in micromanipulation and microassembly require a high-performance microgripper. To improve the predominant static and dynamic characteristics, a novel piezoelectric-actuated compliant microgripper is designed, analyzed, and tested in this paper. The microgripper realizes a large gripping stroke by integrating a compliant bridge mechanism, an L-shaped mechanism, and a levered parallelogram mechanism. Optimization technology based on response surface analysis is applied to demonstrate the influence of structural parameters on the microgripper performance. Simulation results of finite element analysis reveal the superior performance of the designed microgripper in terms of gripping displacement, mechanism stiffness, equivalent stress, and natural frequency. A gripper prototype has been fabricated, and experimental studies have been conducted to test the microgripper’s physical properties. Experimental results show that the microgripper can grasp micro-objects with a maximum jaw motion stroke of 312.8 μm, natural frequency of 786 Hz, motion resolution of ±0.6 μm, and force resolution of ±1.69 mN. The gripping tests of an optical fiber with a diameter of 200 μm and a metal sheet with a thickness of 100 μm have been performed to demonstrate its gripping capability with position and force control. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design and Control of Compliant Manipulators: Volume II)
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12 pages, 3597 KiB  
Article
High-Precision Displacement and Force Hybrid Modeling of Pneumatic Artificial Muscle Using 3D PI-NARMAX Model
by Yanding Qin, Yuankai Xu, Chenyu Shen and Jianda Han
Actuators 2022, 11(2), 51; https://doi.org/10.3390/act11020051 - 8 Feb 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1888
Abstract
Pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM) is attractive in rehabilitation and biomimetic robots due to its flexibility. However, there exists a strong hysteretic nonlinearity in PAMs and strong coupling between the output displacement and the output force. At present, most commonly used hysteresis models can [...] Read more.
Pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM) is attractive in rehabilitation and biomimetic robots due to its flexibility. However, there exists a strong hysteretic nonlinearity in PAMs and strong coupling between the output displacement and the output force. At present, most commonly used hysteresis models can be treated as two-dimensional models, which only consider the nonlinearity between the input and the output displacement of the PAM without considering the coupling of the output force. As a result, high-precision modeling and estimation of the PAM’s behavior is difficult, especially when the external load of the system varies significantly. In this paper, the influence of the output force on the displacement is experimentally investigated. A three-dimensional model based on the modified Prandtl–Ishlinskii (MPI) model and the Nonlinear AutoRegressive Moving Average with eXogenous inputs (NARMAX) model is proposed to describe the relationship and couplings among the input, the output displacement, and the output force of the PAM. Experiments are conducted to verify the modeling accuracy of the proposed model when the external load of the PAM varies across a wide range. The experimental results show that the proposed model captures well the hysteresis and couplings of the PAM and can precisely predict the PAM’s behavior. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design and Control of Compliant Manipulators: Volume II)
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