Underactuated robotics: A review

Abstract

Underactuated robotics is an emerging research direction in the field of robotics. The control input of the underactuated robot is less than the degree of freedom of the system. It has the advantages of lightweight, low energy consumption, excellent performance, and broad development prospects. This article reviews the state of the art on underactuated robotics. On the basis of previous studies, this article takes the non-holonomic constraint equation as the entry point to classify and summarize underactuated robot and their common mechanisms. The controllability of underactuated robot is further discussed. The control flow of underactuated robot is described based on the open–closed control method. In the closed-loop control, the control method based on the fuzzy system is mainly used. Finally, the difficulties in the current research of underactuated robot are summarized, and the future research directions are prospected.