Planar Task Space Control of a Biarticular Manipulator Driven by Spiral Motors

Abstract

This paper elaborates upon a musculoskeletal-inspired robot manipulator using a prototype of the spiral motor developed in our laboratory. The spiral motors represent the antagonistic muscles due to the high forward/backward drivability without any gears or mechanisms. Modelling of the biarticular structure with spiral motor dynamics was presented and simulations were carried out to compare two control methods, Inverse Kinematics (IK) and direct-Cartesian control, between monoarticular only structures and biarticular structures using the spiral motor. The results show the feasibility of the control, especially in maintaining air gaps within the spiral motor.