Artificial Muscle based on Flexinol motor wire Scott Renkes Advisor: David Noelle
Purpose Design a new actuator Current technology Robotics Prosthetics Teleoperation Current technology Electric motors Hydraulics Pneumatics
Why a new actuator? Replicate human movement Refined force and velocity control of device Human like movement allows for better man machine integration Humanoid robots can more easily mimic humans
Fibrous Bundled Structure Flexinol motor wire to replace muscle fibers Package wires similar to muscle Flexinol/muscle fiber proportional elasticity Similar force/length curves
Uncle Brain wants YOU! One bundle, one neuron Weak fast, slow strong Properties of motor wire allow for variety of activation Neural Network Controller Force feedback training Inverse Dynamics
EMG Controller Muscle Voltage vs Muscle Force EMG signals represent muscle force Neural Network for EMG pattern recognition
Project Status Completed work Current Work Study properties of motor wire Calculate efficiency of passive cooling Develop Structure and Control for the device Design test bed Examine neural network solution Current Work Finish building actuator and cooling system
Future Work Design and build active cooling system driven by actuator forces Code user friendly interface for training and controlling neural network
Questions?