Fabrication and characterisation of miniature mckibben actuators

Abstract

This paper investigates the development of miniature compliant actuators that can generate high forces for applications where machines interact directly with human beings such as service robots, prostheses and instruments for surgery. During this research, pneumatic McKibben actuators have been miniaturized to an outside diameter of 1.5 mm and a length of 22 mm to 62 mm. These actuators are able to achieve forces of 6 N and strains up to about 15 % at a supply pressure of 10 bar. The maximal actuation speed of the actuators measured during this research is more than 350 mm/s. Positioning experiments with a laser interferometer and a PI controller showed that these actuators are able to achieve sub-micron positioning resolution.