A novel robotic joint is proposed. A rubber bellows muscle actuator with pliability is driven by a pneumatic pressure or tandem compound system consisting of pneumatics and hydraulics. The joints can be used as direct driving in a smart manipulator. A mechanical joint model driven by the muscle has been built, and an equation to calculate the volume of the bellows in correlation with the angle of its compliant bend is obtained. Finally a simple dynamic model between the angular displacement of the joint and time variable is created and a simulation of the dynamics is given based on an example.
展开▼