Abstract
Creation of advanced dexterous mechanical manipulators and actuators is increasingly important for development of intelligent robots, which are capable of performing any human arm task. This Paper deals with an application of an ultrasonic motor to such a dexterous actuator which has multi-degree of freedom. In the view of the principle of drive which produces torque by the act of friction, ultrasonic motor can be easily applied to obtain the desired motion. Multi-degree of freedom motion can be obtained by using a spherical shaped rotor and stators. Presented in this paper are the development of the stator for a spherical rotor, simulation of vibration mode of stator and experiments to determine the optimal design and control parameters (contact force between the rotor and the stator, driving voltage and thickness of lining material) which have effects on the performance of the actuator.
