TER KUMATER PETER

13/ENG05/016
MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING
MCT 501: ROBOT DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE

ENERGY STABILITY MARGIN

The Energy Stability Margin, ESM, was proposed by Messuri as the minimum potential energy
required to tumble the robot around the edges of the support polygon, that is:

where i denotes the segment of the support polygon considered the rotation axis, ns is the number
of supporting legs, and h is the variation of CG height during the tumble, which comes from:

where Ri is the distance from the CG to the rotation axis, ϴ is the angle that Ri forms with the
vertical plane, and ψ is the inclination angle of the rotation axis relative to the horizontal plane.
The ESM is the most effective static stability measurement. It gives a qualitative idea of the amount
of impact energy the vehicle withstands and also considers the height of the CG.
DYNAMIC STABILITY MARGIN
To solve the unusefulness of static stability margins when robot dynamics are relevant some
momentum-based stability criteria have been defined. Lin and Song defined the Dynamic Stability
Margin, DSM, as the smallest of all moments Mi around the edges of the support polygon caused
by robot/ground interaction forces, normalized by the weight of the system, that is:

where Pi is the position vector from the CG to the i-th support foot, FR and MR are the resultant
force and moment of robot/ground interaction, and ei is a unit vector that revolves around the
support polygon in the clockwise sense. If all moments are positive (if they have the same direction
and sense as ei), then the system is stable.
CENTER OF PRESSURE
The center of pressure is the point where the total sum of a pressure field acts on a body, causing
a force to act through that point. The total force vector acting at the center of pressure is the value
of the integrated vectoral pressure field. The resultant force and center of pressure location produce
equivalent force and moment on the body as the original pressure field. Pressure fields occur in
both static and dynamic fluid mechanics. Specification of the center of pressure, the reference
point from which the center of pressure is referenced, and the associated force vector allows the
moment generated about any point to be computed by a translation from the reference point to the
desired new point. It is common for the center of pressure to be located on the body, but in fluid
flows it is possible for the pressure field to exert a moment on the body of such magnitude that the
center of pressure is located outside the body.
The term center of pressure plays an important role in analysis of the longitudinal static stability
of all flying machines. It is desirable that when the pitch angle and angle of attack of an aircraft
are disturbed (by, for example turbulence) that the aircraft returns to its original trimmed pitch
angle and angle of attack without a pilot or autopilot changing the control surface deflection. For
an aircraft to return towards its trimmed attitude, without input from a pilot or autopilot, it must
have positive longitudinal static stability.
REFERENCES
Centre of pressure. Available at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_pressure_(fluid_mechanics).
R. McGhee and A. Frank, “On the stability properties of quadruped creeping gaits,” mathematical
Bioscience 3, 331–351, 1968.
SHAPE MEMORY ALLOY
A shape-memory alloy (SMA), smart metal, memory metal, memory alloy, muscle wire, smart
alloy is an alloy that "remembers" its original shape and that when deformed returns to its pre-
deformed shape when heated. This material is a lightweight, solid-state alternative to
conventional actuators such as hydraulic, pneumatic, and motor-based systems. Shape-memory
alloys have applications in robotics and automotive, aerospace and biomedical industries.
SMA have many advantages over traditional actuators, but do suffer from a series of limitations
that may impede practical application. In numerous studies, it was emphasized that only a few of
patented shape memory alloy applications are commercially successful due to material
limitations combined with a lack of material and design knowledge and associated tools, such as
improper design approaches and techniques used.
SMA actuators are typically actuated electrically, where an electric current results in Joule
heating. Deactivation typically occurs by free convective heat transfer to the ambient
environment. Consequently, SMA actuation is typically asymmetric, with a relatively fast
actuation time and a slow de-actuation time. A number of methods have been proposed to reduce
SMA deactivation time, including forced convection, and lagging the SMA with a conductive
material in order to manipulate the heat transfer rate. Novel methods to enhance the feasibility of
SMA actuators include the use of a conductive "lagging". this method uses a thermal paste to
rapidly transfer heat from the SMA by conduction.