Abstract
When most of conventional robot receives impact force, its power transmission mechanism such as gears and wires is damaged. The cause is that the robot has stiff joint so that the robot equips reduction gear which has high-reduction gear ratio. We aim to solve the problem. If the power transmission mechanism has flexibility, the impact force will be safely absorbed however, a precise positional control becomes difficult. Therefore, it is desirable that the joint stiffness can be adjusted according to the situation. We have developed a three-linked robot which has the mechanical joint stiffness adjustment mechanism by using non-linear spring named SAT(Stiffness Adjustable Tendon). The three-linked robot has three joints which are able to adjust joint stiffness by using two motors at each joint. We verified that the joint stiffness at each joint can be adjusted mechanically by using the robot. Furthermore we verified the stiffness at finger tip can be controlled by utilizing SAT for the power transmission system of wire-driven robot.
