RECENT REALIZATIONS IN THE FIELD OF ACTIVELY BALANCED LEGGED ROBOTS (RAIBERT, 1983, 1986) DEMONSTRATED THE TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY OF A SYSTEM OPERATED BY SIMPLIFIED CONTROL ALGORITHMS. THE UTILIZATION OF PNEUMATIC AND HYDRAULIC ACTUATORS FOR THESE PROTOTYPE REALIZATIONS, WHILE PROVIDING CONSIDERABLY HIGH MECHANICAL POWER TO MASS RATIONS AT OUTPUT LOCATIONS, REMAINED PARTICULARLY DISADVANTAGEOUS WHEN REGARDED FROM THE SYSTEM'S EFFICIENCY POINT OF VIEW; THE POWER EFFICIENCY OF A PNEUMATIC/HYDRAULIC MOTORIZATION IS PARTICULARLY POOR, TAKEN AS A SYSTEM (APPROXIMATELY 0.25 DUE TO LOSSES IN PUMPS, PIPING, SERVOVALVES, ETC). THUS, THEIR USE BECOMES PROHIBITIVE FOR SMALL-SCALE SYSTEMS OF HUMAN SIZE, FOR EXAMPLE. THIS FACT ALSO WAS RECOGNIZED BY RAIBERT (1986), WHO UNDERLINED THE ENGINEERING DIFFICULTIES FOR THE DESIGN OF SMALL-SCALE ACTIVELY BALANCED LEGGED ROBOTS WITH SELF-CONTAINED POWER SOURC
| Number of Pages : | 16 |
| Published : | 06/01/1991 |
