Benchmarking Torque Control Strategies for a Torsion-Based Series Elastic Actuator

The diversity in torque-controlled actuators has enabled researchers to address numerous physical human–robot interaction applications with enhanced safety, dependability, and interaction capability [1] . Yet, only a few torque-controlled actuators meet the challenging application requirements of mobility, improved torque/mass ratio, and structural integrability. To this end, series elastic actuators (SEAs) could meet these requirements [2] , and they are extensively employed in state-of-the-art robot platforms [3] – [5] . As a result, SEA development is garnering interest in line with the growing need in related subfields in robotics.