Artificial Muscle Limb

Artificial muscle is a device that is pneumatically actuated and contains an expanding tube (bladder) surrounded by braided cords. The braided cords are flexible but inextensible and form a mesh shell around the inner bladder. The operating principle of Artificial muscle is " First, the inner bladder is pnuematically pressurized. This pressurization causes the inner bladder to push against the outer braided mesh shell and tends to increase its volume. Due to the large longitudinal stiffness (inextensibility) of the cords in the braided mesh shell, the actuator shortens according to its volume and generates tension force if coupled to mechanical load. The physical configuration, due to pnuematic cylinders causes muscle to have: * Variable-Stiffness spring-like characteristics. * Nonlinear Passive Elasticity. * Light Weight. This leads to a dynamic relationship between the input mass flow rate of air that is controlled by the inlet valve and pressure in the expanding tube.



 
 
E-Mail CRB Home Page