Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Reports on a type of pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs) that was developed at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Department of Mechanical Engineering. Its distinguishing feature is its pleated design. Due to this, it has a very high contraction force and an equally high travel. The weight of these pleated PAMs is very low: a muscle of only 60 gr can pull up to 3500 N and contract by 42%. Furthermore, dry friction and associated hysteresis, typical of many other designs, is avoided by the folding-unfolding action. This significantly simplifies position control using these actuators. Although the force-displacement characteristics of our actuators are non-linear, they can be effectively controlled using basic linear PI techniques. Another advantage of these actuators is their inherent and controllable compliance, making them ideally suited for walking/running machines or whenever delicate tasks, e.g. handling fragile objects, have to be performed. In view of all characteristics pleated PAMs are very well suited for automation and robotic applications.
Daerden et al. (Wed,) studied this question.