Series elastic actuators

It is traditional to make the interface between an actuator and its load as stiff as possible. Despite this tradition, reducing interface stiffness offers a number of advantages, including greater shock tolerance, lower reflected inertia, more accurate and stable force control, less inadvertent damage to the environment, and the capacity for energy storage. As a trade-off, reducing interface stiffness also lowers zero motion force bandwidth. In this paper, the authors propose that for natural tasks, zero motion force bandwidth isn't everything, and incorporating series elasticity as a purposeful element within the actuator is a good idea. The authors use the term elasticity instead of compliance to indicate…