University of Twente Student Theses

Login

Realisation of an energy-efficient walking robot

Dertien, Edwin (2005) Realisation of an energy-efficient walking robot.

[img] PDF
3MB
Abstract:At the Control Engineering department of the University of Twente a number of simulation models of ‘passive dynamic’ walking robots have been developed in the recent years. These models need validation with a ‘Real world’ example. The goal of this Master's project is to realize a working walking robot. The assignment comprises the modeling, design and construction of the necessary mechanics, actuators, sensors, controllers and embedded electronic infrastructure. Previous research has shown that efficiency of a walking robot can be increased by adding (nonlinear) springs. These springs store the energy used for deceleration of the swing leg, which is normally supplied by a braking motor.Instead of using real springs, the hardware setup enables the use of virtual or ‘emulated’ springs in order to determine the possible gain in efficiency. A detailed 20-sim model was made of the entire robot, including actuation, control and interaction with the environment. The mechanical setup was designed using CAD tool packages and built with custom made aluminium parts. A number of electronic systems such as controller boards, motor amplifiers and sensor interface circuits were design and built. All electronics are connected using a TWI bus system with a custom communication protocol. The robot is able to walk using a simple controller algorithm. The used control parameters match the ones used in the simulation. The power consumption is low compared to designs made by other universities and companies.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:EEMCS: Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
Subject:53 electrotechnology
Programme:Electrical Engineering MSc (60353)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/56911
Export this item as:BibTeX
EndNote
HTML Citation
Reference Manager

 

Repository Staff Only: item control page