Relationship between the Shape of the Elliptical Knee Joint and Jumping Height in a Leg Type Robot Driven by Pneumatic Artificial Muscle

Abstract

McKibben Pneumatic Actuator(MPA), one of the soft actuators, has various useful features as an actuator for robots. Therefore, many dynamic motions by a robot using MPA as an actuator have been realized. The tension of MPA is affected by the mechanical and geometric shapes of the robot’s body because the tension of MPA depends on its length. However, few robots have been designed with this effect in mind. In this study, we examined the effect of the elliptical patella on the locomotion of a legged robot that performs a jumping motion. Genetic Algorithm(GA) was used to optimize the shape suitable for the jumping motion, and it was confirmed that the characteristics of the optimized shape were consistent with the hypothesis.