Dr. Brian Mac Namee (www.comp.dit.

ie/bmacnamee)

Mobile Robotics:
3. Actuators

2
of
25

Acknowledgments
These notes are based (heavily)
on those provided by the authors
to accompany Introduction to
Autonomous Mobile Robots by
Roland Siegwart and Illah R.
Nourbakhsh

More information about the book is available at:

http://autonomousmobilerobots.epfl.ch/
The book can be bought at:
The MIT Press and Amazon.com

3
of
43

Introduction

A robot must be able to interact physically with

the environment in which it is operating
Actuators are the components of a robot that
enable it to affect the environment, say, by
exerting forces upon it or moving through it
Well take a look at:
Electric motors
Artificial muscles
Pneumatics & hydraulics

4
of
43

Robot Joints

Robot joints can be either rotary (also known

as revolute) or prismatic (telescoping)

5
of
43

Robot Joints (cont)

Prismatic Cartesian
robot

Rotary SCARA
robot

6
of
43

Robot Joints (cont)

7
of
43

Actuator Control

Robots are classified by control method into

servo and non-servo robots
Non-servo robots are essentially open-loop
devices whose movements are limited to
predetermined mechanical stops
Servo robots use closed-loop computer control
to determine their motion

8
of
43

Open Loop Controller

An open-loop controller (or non-feedback

controller) is a type of controller which
computes its input into a system using only the
current state and its model of the system
The system does not observe the output of the
processes that it is controlling

Input

Controller

Motor

Output

9
of
43

Open Loop Controller (cont)

Open-loop control is useful for well-defined

systems where the relationship between input
and the resultant state can be modeled by a
mathematical formula
For example determining the voltage to be fed
to an electric motor that drives a constant load,
in order to achieve a desired speed would be a
good application of open-loop control

10
of
43

Open Loop Controller (cont)

An open-loop controller is often used in simple

processes because of its simplicity and lowcost, especially in systems where feedback is
not critical
Generally, to obtain a more accurate or more
adaptive control, it is necessary to feed the
output of the system back to the inputs of the
controller

11
of
43

Closed Loop Controller

A closed-loop controller uses feedback to

control states or outputs of a dynamical system
Input

Controller

Motor

Output
Measurement

Output

Feedback

Process inputs have an effect on the process

outputs, which is measured with sensors and
processed by the controller; the result is used
as input to the process, closing the loop

12
of
43

Closed Loop Controller

Closed-loop controllers have the following

advantages over open-loop controllers:
Disturbance rejection (such as unmeasured
friction in a motor)
Guaranteed performance even with model
uncertainties, when the model structure does not
match perfectly the real process and the model
parameters are not exact
Unstable processes can be stabilized
Reduced sensitivity to parameter variations
Improved reference tracking performance

13
of
43

Types of Actuators

Some of the most common actuators are:

Electric motors, the most common actuators in
mobile robots, used both to provide location by
powering wheels or legs, and for manipulation
by actuating robot arms
Artificial muscles of various types, none of
which are very good approximations of living
muscles
Pneumatic and hydraulic actuators, used in
industry for large manipulation tasks but seldom
for mobile robots

14
of
43

Electric Motors

Electric motors are the most common source

of torque for mobility and/or manipulation in
robotics
The physical principle of all electric motors is
that when an electric current is passed through
a conductor (usually a coil of wire) placed
within a magnetic field, a force is exerted on
the wire causing it to move

15
of
43

Components Of An Electric Motor

The principle components of an electric motor

are:
North and south magnetic poles to provide a
strong magnetic field. Being made of bulky
ferrous material they traditionally form the outer
casing of the motor and collectively form the
stator
An armature, which is a cylindrical ferrous core
rotating within the stator and carries a large
number of windings made from one or more
conductors

16
of
43

Components Of An Electric Motor (cont)

A commutator, which rotates with the
armature and consists of copper contacts
attached to the end of the windings
Brushes in fixed positions and in contact
with the rotating commutator contacts.
They carry direct current to the coils,
resulting in the required motion

17
of
43

Components Of An Electric Motor (cont)

Stator
(Rotating)
Commutator

Brushes

Armature

18
of
43

How Do Electric Motors Work?

The classic DC motor has a rotating armature in the

form of an electromagnet
A rotary switch called a commutator reverses the
direction of the electric current twice every cycle, to
flow through the armature so that the poles of the
electromagnet push and pull against the permanent
magnets on the outside of the motor
As the poles of the armature electromagnet pass the
poles of the permanent magnets, the commutator
reverses the polarity of the armature electromagnet.
During that instant of switching polarity, inertia keeps
the motor going in the proper direction

19
of
43

How Do Electric Motors Work? (cont)

AsimpleDCelectricmotor:whenthecoilis
powered,amagneticfieldisgeneratedaround
thearmature.Theleftsideofthearmatureis
pushedawayfromtheleftmagnetanddrawn
towardtheright,causingrotation

20
of
43

How Do Electric Motors Work? (cont)

Thearmaturecontinuestorotate

21
of
43

How Do Electric Motors Work? (cont)

Whenthearmaturebecomeshorizontally
aligned,thecommutatorreversesthedirectionof
currentthroughthecoil,reversingthemagnetic
field.Theprocessthenrepeats.

22
of
43

Electric Motors

Electric motors usually have a small rating,

ranging up to a few horsepower
They are used in small appliances, battery
operated vehicles, for medical purposes and in
other medical equipment like x-ray machines
Electric motors are also used in toys, and in
automobiles as auxiliary motors for the
purposes of seat adjustment, power windows,
sunroof, mirror adjustment, blower motors,
engine cooling fans and the like

23
of
43

Stepper Motors

When incremental rotary motion is required in

a robot, it is possible to use stepper motors
A stepper motor possesses the ability to move
a specified number of revolutions or fraction of
a revolution in order to achieve a fixed and
consistent angular movement
This is achieved by increasing the numbers of
poles on both rotor and stator
Additionally, soft magnetic material with many
teeth on the rotor and stator cheaply multiplies
the number of poles (reluctance motor)

24
of
43

Stepper Motors

This figure illustrates the design

of a stepper motor, arranged
with four magnetic poles
arranged around a central rotor
Note that the teeth on the rotor
have a slightly tighter spacing
to those on the stator, this ensures that the two
sets of teeth are close to each other but not
quite aligned throughout

25
of
43

Stepper Motors (cont)

Movement is achieved when

power is applied for short
periods to successive magnets
Where pairs of teeth are least
offset, the electromagnetic
pulse causes alignment and a
small rotation is achieved, typically 1-2o

26
of
43

How Does A Stepper Motor Work?

Thetopelectromagnet(1)ischarged,attractingthe
topmostfourteethofasprocket.

27
of
43

How Does A Stepper Motor Work? (cont)

Thetopelectromagnet(1)isturnedoff,andthe
rightelectromagnet(2)ischarged,pullingthe
nearestfourteethtotheright.Thisresultsina
rotationof3.6

28
of
43

How Does A Stepper Motor Work? (cont)

Thebottomelectromagnet(3)ischarged;another
3.6rotationoccurs.

29
of
43

How Does A Stepper Motor Work? (cont)

Theleftelectromagnet(4)isenabled,rotatingagainby
3.6.Whenthetopelectromagnet(1)isagaincharged,the
teethinthesprocketwillhaverotatedbyonetooth
position;sincethereare25teeth,itwilltake100stepsto
makeafullrotation.

30
of
43

Stepper Motor

Stepper motors have several advantages:

Their control is directly compatible with digital
technology
They can be operated open loop by counting
steps, with an accuracy of 1 step.
They can be used as holding devices, since they
exhibit a high holding torque when the rotor is
stationary

31
of
43

Electric Motors: Mounting

When used with rotary joint systems, motors

can produce torque by being mounted directly
on the joints or by pulling on cables
The cables can be thought of as tendons that
connect the actuator (muscle) to the link being
moved
Since cables can apply force only when pulled,
it is necessary to use a pair of cables to obtain
bidirectional motion around a joint, this implies
mechanical complexity

32
of
43

Electric Motors: Mounting (cont)

Mounting motors directly on joints allows for

bidirectional rotation, but such mounting may
increase the physical size and weight of the
joint, and this may be undesirable in some
applications

33
of
43

Electric Motors: Linear Movement

The fact that electric motors produce rotational

motion raises an issue with regard to their use
in robots
For linear translation it is necessary to
translate rotational to linear motion
For example, prismatic joints require linear
translation rather than rotation from the motor

Leadscrews, belt-and-pulley systems, rackand-pinion systems, or gears and chains are

typically used to transform rotational to
translational motion

34
of
43

Artificial Muscles

During the past forty years a

number of attempts have been
made to build artificial muscles
Muscles contract when
activated, since they are
attached to bones on two
sides of a joint, the longitudinal
shortening produces joint rotation
Bilateral motion requires pairs of
muscles attached on opposite sides of a
joint are required to produce

35
of
43

Artificial Muscles: McKibben Type

The McKibben muscle was the

earliest attempt at constructing
an artificial muscle
This device consisted of a
rubber bladder surrounded by
a sleeve made of nylon fibers in a helical
weave
When activated by pressurized air, the sleeve
prevented it from expanding lengthwise, and
thus the device shortened like living muscles

36
of
43

Artificial Muscles: McKibben Type

In the 1960s there were attempts to use

McKibben muscles to produce movements in
mechanical structures strapped to
nonfunctional arms of quadriplegics
The required compresses air was carried in a
tank mounted on the persons wheelchair
These experiments were never completely
successful

37
of
43

Artificial Muscles: McKibben Type

Since the 1960s there has been

several other attempts to develop
improved McKibben type artificial
muscles:
(Brooks, 1977) developed an
artificial muscle for control of the
arms of the humanoid torso Cog
(Pratt and Williamson 1995)
developed artificial muscles for
control of leg movements in a biped
walking robot

However, it is fair to say that no artificial muscles

developed to date can match the properties of animal
muscles

38
of
43

Artificial Muscles: Shape Memory Alloys

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) have unusual

mechanical properties
Typically, they contract when heated, which is
the opposite to what standard metals do when
heated (expand)
Furthermore, they produce thermal movement
(contraction) one hundred times greater than
that produced by standard metals

39
of
43

Artificial Muscles: Shape Memory Alloys

Because they contract when heated, SMA

provide a source of actuation for robots
After contraction, the material gradually returns
to its original length when the source of
activation is removed and it is allowed to cool
SMAs have two major problems when used as
artificial muscles:
They cannot generate very large forces
They cool slowly and so recover their original
length slowly, thus reducing the frequency
response of any artificial muscle in which they
are employed

40
of
43

Northeastern Universitys Robot Lobster

A robot lobster developed

at Northeastern University
used SMAs very cleverly
The force levels required
for the lobsters legs are
not excessive for SMAs
Because the robot is used underwater cooling is
supplied naturally by seawater

More on the robot lobster is available at: http://www.neurotechnology.neu.edu

41
of
43

Artificial Muscles: Electroactive Polymers

Like SMAs, Electroactive Polymers (EAPs)

also change their shape when electrically
stimulated
The advantages of EAPs for robotics are that
they are able to emulate biological muscles
with a high degree of toughness, large
actuation strain, and inherent vibration
damping
Unfortunately, the force actuation and
mechanical energy density of EAPs are
relatively low

42
of
43

Electroactive Polymer Examples

Robotic face developed by a group led

by David Hanson. More information is
available at:
www.hansonrobotics.com

Robotic hand developed by a group

led by Graham Whiteley. More
information is available at:
www.elumotion.com

43
of
43

Pneumatic & Hydraulic Actuators

Large manipulators in industry frequently

employ hydraulic drives, since such drives
provide a higher torque-to-weight ratio than
electric motors
However, because of the maintenance
problems associated with pressurized oil
(including leaks), hydraulic motors are not
used in smaller mobile robots
Pneumatic drives have been used as actuators
in the past but are not currently popular
Air is compressible, resulting in nonlinear
behavior of the actuator

44
of
43

Summary

Actuators are the components of a robot that

interact physically with the environment in
which it is operating
The key issues with regard to actuators
include:
Required power (torque etc)
Power required
Weight etc
Speed