Joints with angle dependent damping can help to reduce impact forces in robots.

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Mechanical Engineering
• Fluid Dynamics

Background:

• Robots often experience collisions, leading to potential damage and safety concerns.
• Existing damping systems may not optimally mitigate impact forces across various collision scenarios.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effectiveness of a novel angle-dependent damper for reducing robot collision forces.
• To design and validate a fluid-viscous damper with variable clearance.

Main Methods:

• Developed an analytical model for angle-dependent damping.
• Conducted numerical simulations to predict damper performance.
• Experimentally validated the analytical and simulation results using a prototype damper.

Main Results:

• Analytical modeling predicted up to a 50% reduction in peak forces compared to constant damping.
• Numerical simulations demonstrated that damping can be varied by 60% with a 10% gap change.
• Experimental tests confirmed up to a 30% reduction in collision forces.

Conclusions:

• The angle-dependent variable damping solution effectively reduces robot collision forces.
• This technology is applicable to various robots prone to collisions, including industrial, legged, and perching robots.
• The findings pave the way for safer and more robust robotic systems.