A vertically intersected dual-axis modularized reconfigurable actuator: Design and application for a six-axis humanoid robot arm

摘要

A vertically intersected dual-axis modularized actuator system (DAMA) is developed and applied to a six-axis humanoid robot arm in this article. The DAMA consists of a two independent joint system, and the system structure is further refined using finite element analysis. It will be shown that the novel DAMA modular system can be used to easily construct a mechanism with any degrees of freedom. In other words, a modular or reconfigurable system can be achieved using the DAMA module. Based on simulations with ADAMS and MATLAB software packages, the system dynamic properties can be observed. In addition, the hardware and software systems of the DAMA are developed. The hardware architecture is composed of a microprocessor, an RS-232 to CAN bus module, and two independent-joint controller modules. The software control system is written in Visual C++. The system employs a simple but effective PID scheme to independently control the DAMA's two joints. The experimental results show that for an S-curve and circle trajectory input position command, the DAMA and the six-axis humanoid robot arm, which is formed by the DAMA module, can track the command well. Hence, the DAMA can be used as a generic module for multiple-degree-of-freedom systems.