Design and Stiffness Modeling of a Novel Planar Parallel Robot with Variable Stiffness Actuators
摘要
Human-robot interaction applications require compliant actuation for enhanced safety and comfort. While compliant actuators were adopted in many robots of serial configurations, they are rarely used in parallel robots. This paper introduces a novel planar parallel robot (PPR) designed with variable stiffness actuators (VSAs). The stiffness models for the VSA-based parallel robot are developed, upon which simulations are conducted to reveal stiffness distribution over the entire workspace. The models were experimentally validated for both joint and Cartesian stiffness.