Development and characterisation of a multi-material 3D printed torsion spring

Andrew Barber*, Peter Culmer, Jordan H. Boyle

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volumeConference contributionScientificpeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Compliant actuation methods are popular in robotics applications where interaction with complex and unpredictable environments and objects is required. There are a number of ways of achieving this, but one common method is Series Elastic Actuation (SEA). In a recent version of their Unified Snake robot, Choset et al. incorporated a Series Elastic Element (SEE) in the form of a rubber torsional spring. This paper explores the possibility of using multi-material 3D printing to produce similar SEEs. This approach would facilitate the fabrication and testing of different springs and minimize the assembly required. This approach is evaluated by characterizing the behavior of two configurations of SEE, 3d printed with different dimensions. The springs exhibit predictable viscoelastic behavior that is well described by a five element Wiechert model. We find that individual springs behave predictably and that multiple copies of the same spring design exhibit good consistency.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationTowards Autonomous Robotic Systems - 16th Annual Conference, TAROS 2015, Proceedings
EditorsClare Dixon, Karl Tuyls
PublisherSpringer
Pages44-49
Number of pages6
ISBN (Print)9783319224152
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2015
Externally publishedYes
Event16th Annual Conference on Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems, TAROS 2015 - Liverpool, United Kingdom
Duration: 8 Sept 201510 Sept 2015

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume9287
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference16th Annual Conference on Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems, TAROS 2015
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityLiverpool
Period8/09/1510/09/15

Keywords

  • 3D printing
  • Compliance
  • Series Elastic Actuation

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