Toward a new force sensor for twisted string actuator: A study about the force on separator

摘要

The twisted string actuator (TSA) shows promise as a good substitution for biological muscle in robotics. In this paper, a new force sensing mechanism is suggested utilizing the separator which exists in some kind of TSAs. We have identified a relation between the force acting on the separator and the load on the actuator and propose a mathematical model based on this original phenomenon. We also propose an estimation method of the load acting on the TSA using the mathematical model. This relationship has been verified in experiment. A contribution of this research is that the actuation load can be estimated by use of internal structure in TSA which in some circumstances can result in a simpler system compared to direct measurement of load in line.