Publication
Distributed Compliance Controller for Legged-Robot with Geared Brushless DC Joints
Lan Yue Ji; Sebastian Bartsch; Frank Kirchner
In: Proceedings of the 11th Symposium on Advanced Space Technologies in Robotics and Automation. ESA/Estec Symposium on Advanced Space Technologies in Robotics and Automation (ASTRA-11), April 12-15, Noordwijk, Netherlands, 4/2011.
Abstract
With the continuous advancement in artificial intelligence, smart robots are becoming more and more important to the future space missions. SpaceClimber is a biologically inspired semi-autonomous hexapod designed to be able to collect samples on remote lanets. It needs to be able to travel freely in unstructured environments. In other words, it should be able to overcome small obstacles overseen by vision system due to the size or due to the time point of occurrence, which motivates the introduction of adaptive compliance into the locomotor system. Harmonically-driven geared Brushless DC (BLDC) motors are utilized to actuate the joints, each equipped with FPGA-based controllers. In this paper an effective method to estimate the contact torque applied on a joint is introduced, on which the design of compliance controller in joint space is based.