A Novel Compact Design of a Lever-Cam based Variable Stiffness Actuator: LC-VSA

Abstract

Ensuring safe interaction between humans and robots is an important challenge in robotics. In recent years, researchers have developed many different soft robots. One possibility to reach this goal is to integrate mechanical springs into their joints. The forthcoming generation of soft robots will be adaptable for joint stiffness to accommodate various tasks. Consequently, the development of variable stiffness joints (VSA) has become crucial. Among the prevalent approaches for stiffness adjustment, lever mechanisms have been implemented in numerous variable stiffness joints. Nonetheless, the integration of the lever technology into VSA often faces challenges in achieving a compact design. This paper introduces a new mechanically compact design for a novel lever-cam based variable stiffness joint, which has been patent under the grand by the german Patentamt.