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Actuator with Mechanically Adjustable Series Compliance (AMASC) Head: Alfred Rizzi Contact: Jonathan W Hurst (jhurst@cmu.edu) Mailing address: Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Associated lab/group: Microdynamic Systems Laboratory For more information, see this project's homepage.

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Project Description

Our long-term goal is to develop robots that are capable of running, jumping, and stumble recovery, while being energetically efficient. The Actuator with Mechanically Adjustable Series Compliance (AMASC) is an actuation method that utilizes a large physical spring capacity and variable compliance, to enable such highly dynamic gaits.

This actuator is designed for use in the BiMASC,a highly dynamic legged robot. It has fiberglass springs with a large energy storage capacity. The mechanism has two motors, one for moving the position of the knee and the other for controlling the stiffness felt at the knee. These two parameters, along with the hip angle, are used for control of a running gait.

AMASC in motion Closeup of cabling Entire AMASC

Spiral pulleys Fiberglass springs

Changing the stiffness of the AMASC 7.5MB

Zero stiffness (zero force) 5.8MB

Personnel [Past Members]

	Name	Title	Email Address
	Jonathan W Hurst	PhD Student, RI	jhurst@cmu.edu

Publications

Note: This list may not be comprehensive. It contains only those publications in the RI publications database. Entries are listed in reverse chronological order.

• A Policy for Open-Loop Attenuation of Disturbance Effects Caused by Uncertain Ground Properties in Running
  J.W. Hurst, B. Morris, J. Chestnutt, and A. Rizzi
  IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation, April, 2007. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [162 KB], ps.gz [128 KB] copyrighted

• Design and Philosophy of the BiMASC, a Highly Dynamic Biped
  J.W. Hurst, J. Chestnutt, and A. Rizzi
  IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation, April, 2007. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [386 KB], ps.gz [928 KB] copyrighted

• Physically Variable Compliance in Running
  J.W. Hurst and A. Rizzi
  CLAWAR, SPRINGER-VERLAG, www.springeronline.com, September, 2004. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [118 KB], ps.gz [155 KB] copyrighted

• An Actuator with Physically Variable Stiffness for Highly Dynamic Legged Locomotion
  J.W. Hurst, J. Chestnutt, and A. Rizzi
  Proceedings of the 2004 International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Vol. 5, May, 2004, pp. 4662 - 4667. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [758 KB] copyrighted

• An Actuator with Mechanically Adjustable Series Compliance
  J.W. Hurst, J. Chestnutt, and A. Rizzi
  tech. report CMU-RI-TR-04-24, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, April, 2004. [Abstract]
  Download: pdf [663 KB], ps.gz [856 KB] copyrighted