Sponsor
Portland State University. Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
First Advisor
Alexander Hunt
Term of Graduation
Fall 2022
Date of Publication
11-21-2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (M.S.) in Mechanical Engineering
Department
Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Language
English
Subjects
Artificial legs -- Design, Biomimicry, Artificial joints -- Design, Mechanical movements, Quadrupedalism
DOI
10.15760/etd.8129
Physical Description
1 online resource (vii, 56 pages)
Abstract
The study of synthetic nervous systems is an emerging field within biomimetic robotics as an alternative to more classic control techniques. As the modeling of these nervous systems becomes more accurate, it is important to note that the nervous system and physical system co-evolved and continue to operate in an interdependent fashion. Many legged robots, including the existing quadruped in the AARL, have leg systems that may have similar geometrical properties to that of a mammal, but have significantly different dynamic properties. This paper presents a method for designing a limb so that the passive dynamics more accurately represent that of mammalian limbs. The desired limb dynamics were obtained by scaling kinematic rat leg data, and a gray-box optimization method was used to determine appropriate spring and damper properties, modeling the limb as a three-link pendulum with a spring-damper system at each joint. The new leg was designed with minimal changes to the current prototype, with the implementation of a modular spring and damper set, which allows the leg to achieve more biomimetic passive dynamics. This leg was built with the intent of comparing SNS control methods on legs with different dynamic scales (i.e. inertial vs overdamped). Future improvements to the spring/damper implementation will include increasing the modularity of the mechanical design in order to more easily change the leg dynamic properties.
Rights
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Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/39206
Recommended Citation
Krnacik, Emma, "Applying Biomimetic Passive Dynamics to a Quadruped Robot Leg" (2022). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 6270.
https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.8129