Controller Design for Robot with Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

Abstract

This paper addresses a control issue of a robot with antagonistic McKibben artificial muscle. It is already shown that antagonized arrangement cancels some disadvantages of McKibben muscles. It also realizes control of both joint stiffness and joint torque. This study proposes a novel method to improve control bandwidth by adjusting joint stiffness. Joint stiffness is manipulated according to requested specification such as control bandwidth and compatibility to human. Experimental results verify the validity of the proposed method