A torque limiter for safe joint applied to humanoid robots against falling damage

Abstract

Humanoid robot is anticipated to serve people in our daily life in the near future. However, the great cost of falling damage needs to be addressed before it is widely used. In this paper, a safe and compact joint with torque limiter is developed to reduce the damage to a humanoid robot during falling. First, the overall scheme design and working principles of the safe joint are investigated. Then, the mechanical design of the safe joint is presented in details. Finally, the effectiveness of the safe joint is verified by several simulations.