On January 1, a research team led by Professor Koichi Suzumori of Tokyo Institute of Technology and Fellow Ryo Sakurai of Bridgestone announced that they had succeeded in developing a hydraulically driven high-power artificial muscle.
This research was conducted as part of the Innovative Research and Development Promotion Program (ImPACT) Tough Robotics Challenge led by the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation of the Cabinet Office.The program aims to realize a "tough robot" that is hard to break even in a harsh environment such as a disaster site, has abundant mobility, and can play an active role in disaster recovery using great power.We are proceeding with research and development of "tough hydraulic actuator" which is one of the key components.Actuator is a general term for devices that generate "movement and force" such as motors and cylinders.The majority of robots today are driven by electric motors as an extension of the technology widely used mainly for consumer use, but they are structurally heavy and weak, fragile, and exert a large force depending on the situation. At the same time, there was the problem that it was difficult to move softly.
The research team has developed a new rubber material with excellent oil resistance and deformation characteristics, devised a method of knitting high-tension chemical fibers, and worked on the development of tube terminal tightening technology that can withstand high pressure.As a result, we have realized an innovative lightweight high-power artificial muscle that achieves both pressure resistance and oil resistance at a high level and can efficiently convert high hydraulic pressure into force generation.
The high-power artificial muscle that was successfully developed this time consists of a type of artificial muscle rubber tube called "McKibben type" and a sleeve woven around it (a large number of fibers assembled in a cylindrical shape).The normal Macchiben type artificial muscle operates with an air pressure of 0.3 to 0.6 MPa, but the artificial muscle developed this time can be driven by flood control, and by realizing the operation at a pressure of 5 MPa, a significantly large force is generated. I succeeded in making it.
A major feature of this artificial muscle is that it is robust against violent shocks and vibrations from the outside.It is expected to realize a tough robot that can perform work with impact, which was difficult with a robot driven by a conventional electric motor.
