TY - CHAP
T1 - Multi-DOF Counterbalancing and Applications to Robots
AU - Song, Jae Bok
AU - Kim, Hwi Su
AU - Lee, Won Bum
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Most robot arms use expensive motors and speed reducers to provide torques sufficient to support the robot mass and payload. If the gravitational torques due to the robot mass and/or payload can be compensated by some means, the robot would need much smaller torques for its operation, which can save energy and enables the use of cheaper actuator modules. To this end, counterbalance mechanisms (CBMs) or passive gravity compensators, which can fully or nearly compensate for the gravitational torques due to the robot mass and/or payload, have been developed so far. CBMs can be implemented by various mechanisms, such as wire-type, gear-type, and link-type mechanisms. Since most robot arms have 2 or 3 pitch joints, which are subjected to gravity, multi-DOF counterbalancing techniques are also required to fully compensate for the gravitational torques regardless of the robot’s configuration. In this chapter, the principle of CBM and multi-DOF counterbalancing are discussed in detail. In addition, some counterbalance robot arms are presented to demonstrate their performance of gravity compensation. Simulation and experimental results show that the CBMs effectively decrease the torque required to support the robot mass and payload, thus allowing the prospective use of low-cost motors and speed reducers for high performance robot arms.
AB - Most robot arms use expensive motors and speed reducers to provide torques sufficient to support the robot mass and payload. If the gravitational torques due to the robot mass and/or payload can be compensated by some means, the robot would need much smaller torques for its operation, which can save energy and enables the use of cheaper actuator modules. To this end, counterbalance mechanisms (CBMs) or passive gravity compensators, which can fully or nearly compensate for the gravitational torques due to the robot mass and/or payload, have been developed so far. CBMs can be implemented by various mechanisms, such as wire-type, gear-type, and link-type mechanisms. Since most robot arms have 2 or 3 pitch joints, which are subjected to gravity, multi-DOF counterbalancing techniques are also required to fully compensate for the gravitational torques regardless of the robot’s configuration. In this chapter, the principle of CBM and multi-DOF counterbalancing are discussed in detail. In addition, some counterbalance robot arms are presented to demonstrate their performance of gravity compensation. Simulation and experimental results show that the CBMs effectively decrease the torque required to support the robot mass and payload, thus allowing the prospective use of low-cost motors and speed reducers for high performance robot arms.
KW - Counterbalance mechanisms
KW - Counterbalance robots
KW - Gravity compensators
KW - Multi-DOF counterbalancing
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85127163180&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-95750-6_3
DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-95750-6_3
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85127163180
T3 - Mechanisms and Machine Science
SP - 73
EP - 99
BT - Mechanisms and Machine Science
PB - Springer Science and Business Media B.V.
ER -