Design, Prototyping and Testing a novel layout for Variable Stiffness Actuation

In this work we face the problem of develop a new prototype of Variable Stiffness Actuator from the benchmark motor QbmoveADVANCED, with the purpose of using the new motor in the shoulder of both arms of the anthropomorphic robot ALTER-EGO. The necessity of a new design comes from the limited torque of the actual motors, which makes impossible an easy lifting of the arm’s structure for the required tasks. Moreover, the limited torque force the control system to work in a range of torque near the maximum possible torque of the QbmoveADVANCED, obtaining consequently a limited possibility of variation of the stiffness. At the same time, we also try to design an add-on for the QbmoveADVANCED that solve the problem of limited torque without substitute the motor. This add-on act as a reducer, enhancing the torque while reducing the range of movement