ELASTIC ROTARY ACTUATOR, PARTICULARLY FOR ROBOTIC APPLICATIONS, AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME

摘要

The actuator (10) includes: an output member (12) rotatable around an axis of rotation (X); an input member (14) rotatable around said axis of rotation (X) and connected for rotation with the output member (12) via a plurality of cylindrical helical springs (20, 20'), each interposed between the output member (12) and the input member (14) in a such way as to allow, due to their elastic deformation, a relative rotation between said members (12, 14) around said axis of rotation (X); a motor assembly (16, 18) arranged to drive the input member (14) to rotate around said axis of rotation (X); sensor means (38, 40) for detecting the angular position of the input member (14) and the relative angular position between the input member (14) and the output member (12); and an electronic control unit (ECU) arranged to determine a desired angular velocity (¸ OD ) of the input member (14) on the base of a desired value ( Z D ) for the impedance of the actuator (10) and to control the motor assembly (16, 18) on the base of the error between the desired angular velocity (¸ OD ) of the input member (14) and the angular velocity (¸ Om ) of the input member (14).