Abstract
It has been widely known that robots driven by a McKibben pneumatic actuator (MPA) generates stable motions in spite of an unsophisticated control and a simple actuator model. After deriving a MPA model from the pressure and the elasticity, we examine the validity of it via numerical analyses and physical experiments. Then, we derive stability condition for the standing posture of the 2-dimensional-leg robot equipped with extensor and flexor MPAs. Moreover, we show the correlation of the standing posture and the joint stiffness with respect to the combinations of two MPA pressures, respectively. Finally, we also verify that the standing posture and the joint stiffness can be individually controlled by regulating the values of two MPA pressures.
