Elastic Robot Links: Curse or Blessing? (Part 2)

TUDOR robot

In first place, elasticity in the links of robot arms prolongs settling times and deteriorates the positioning accuracy. However, the feasibility of fast and precise end effector positioning for an elastic link arm has been exemplified with ball catching experiments[1] Malzahn, Jörn, Anh Son Phung, and Torsten Bertram. “A Multi-Link-Flexible Robot Arm Catching Thrown Balls.” 7th … Read more

Elastic Robot Links: Curse or Blessing?

TUDOR robot

It is a demanding challenge to avoid unwanted structural elasticity during the design of lightweight robot mechanisms. Link elasticity aggravates the precise position control of the robot due to configuration dependent static deflections and prolong settling times because of long lasting oscillations. Apart from robotics we find similar design criteria in e. g. in fire-rescue … Read more

How infants tell us how to control the Bionic Handling Assistant

Few days old newborn already try to reach

Festo’s Bionic Handling Assistant (BHA) was revealed to the public in 2010 and got quite some media coverage. Its bionic features make it especially cool, yet at the same time they make control especially hard as we already covered in our last article: Simulation of the Bionic Handling Assistant. The structure and functioning of the Bionic Handling Assistant … Read more