Abstract
In order that robots have flexibility to a variety of tasks and adaptability to change of environment, it is necessary to develop robotic joints which can control not only joint angle but joint stiffness. This article is concerned with a new mechanism of robotic joint that can control joint stiffness as well as joint angle with a simple structure. The joint torque is generated by the difference of two tensions of an-tagonistically equipped strand muscles. And control of the joint angle/stiffness is realized by adjusting the tensions by twisting the muscles with stepping motors, for instance. From experimental results, some basic characteristics of the strand muscles are obtained and the capability for joint angle/stiffness control is verified.
