Intrinsic compliance, i.e. passive compliance, is one of the crucial properties of human and biological systems. In mammals, compliance results from the viscoelastic properties of muscle fibres and the series-elastic tendon structures which can be modulated at the muscle and joint level through the activation of the agonist and/or antagonistic muscles. Several technologies have been proposed to mimic the intrinsic compliance, such as series elastic actuators with fixed compliance, variable stiffness actuators, and soft artificial muscles. There is an ever-increasing interest in implementing robots with intrinsic compliance to the fields of wearable robotics, prosthetics robotics, and walking robotics, because of their ability to absorb impact shocks, to safely interact with users, and to store and release energy in passive elastic elements.
One critical barrier to the development of robots with intrinsic compliance is the necessity for greater design inspiration and integration from bionic viewpoints. For instance, the design of compliant actuators to mimic the real muscle function is difficult because of the complex muscle structure and biomechanical properties. Besides, the control of robots with intrinsic compliance is still challenging due to the complexity and modelling difficulty of compliant components. For instance, the physical coupling between stiffness and position mechanisms in VSAs makes the control design complicated. How to control robots with intrinsic compliance in a more efficient way using bioinspired techniques in model learning, policy learning, and disturbance estimation, is an exciting topic.
This Research Topic welcomes all contributions related to bioinspired design and control approaches for robots with intrinsic compliance. More specifically, we aim to introduce the recent progress of the design of compliant or soft robots inspired by biomechanical advancements and to address the challenges in developing bioinspired control strategies for compliant or soft robots in various applications, while proposing new ideas and directions for future development. All types of articles are welcome among those permitted in the Frontiers in Neurorobotics platform.
Intrinsic compliance, i.e. passive compliance, is one of the crucial properties of human and biological systems. In mammals, compliance results from the viscoelastic properties of muscle fibres and the series-elastic tendon structures which can be modulated at the muscle and joint level through the activation of the agonist and/or antagonistic muscles. Several technologies have been proposed to mimic the intrinsic compliance, such as series elastic actuators with fixed compliance, variable stiffness actuators, and soft artificial muscles. There is an ever-increasing interest in implementing robots with intrinsic compliance to the fields of wearable robotics, prosthetics robotics, and walking robotics, because of their ability to absorb impact shocks, to safely interact with users, and to store and release energy in passive elastic elements.
One critical barrier to the development of robots with intrinsic compliance is the necessity for greater design inspiration and integration from bionic viewpoints. For instance, the design of compliant actuators to mimic the real muscle function is difficult because of the complex muscle structure and biomechanical properties. Besides, the control of robots with intrinsic compliance is still challenging due to the complexity and modelling difficulty of compliant components. For instance, the physical coupling between stiffness and position mechanisms in VSAs makes the control design complicated. How to control robots with intrinsic compliance in a more efficient way using bioinspired techniques in model learning, policy learning, and disturbance estimation, is an exciting topic.
This Research Topic welcomes all contributions related to bioinspired design and control approaches for robots with intrinsic compliance. More specifically, we aim to introduce the recent progress of the design of compliant or soft robots inspired by biomechanical advancements and to address the challenges in developing bioinspired control strategies for compliant or soft robots in various applications, while proposing new ideas and directions for future development. All types of articles are welcome among those permitted in the Frontiers in Neurorobotics platform.