2018 Volume 26 Issue 1 Pages 34-40
Multi-degree-of-freedom (multi-DOF) spherical actuators have been developed for the fields of robotics and industrial machinery. In general, an actuating system with several-DOF is composed of single-DOF motors, which results in large, heavy and complicated structures. Therefore, multi-DOF spherical actuators are expected to solve these problems, and various actuators have been studied. Unlike single-DOF motors, the multi-DOF spherical actuators can generate torques in various directions at various positions. Due to this, it is difficult to measure the static torque characteristics. In this paper, in order to evaluate the static torque characteristics experimentally, a measuring torque constant method is proposed. This method can evaluate the static torque characteristics over the entire movable range by measuring several point. Finally, the effectiveness of this method is discussed.
