Note: Position/torque control of antagonistic robot joint with high-compliant twisted string actuators (TSAs)

Abstract

A tendon-driven robot joint that has a low inertia compared with a conventional drive system is proposed. The robot joint displaces the drive system toward the robot base, and it is driven by twisted string actuators (TSAs), which are a substitute for the conventional heavy drive system. The design of the proposed robot joint is based on an antagonistic scheme that is actuated by two motors. The torques from the motors are transmitted to the robot joint through the TSAs. Based on the geometric analysis of TSAs, strategies for position and torque control are proposed for an antagonistic robot joint driven by TSAs. To verify the proposed control strategies, several control experiments are conducted using a developed prototype of a robot joint.