DARPA Robotics Challenge

Walkman robot trying the Polaris Ranger

Sharing Personal Experiences from the Walkman Garage It’s been slightly more than a week now since the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Finals. Time enough to process and reflect the experiences made during a busy week at Fairplex. Some of them I wish to share here very quick. I remember well the DARPA Grand Challenges back … Read more

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