Professor Koichi Suzumori and his colleagues at the Tokyo Institute of Technology's Faculty of Engineering have succeeded in developing a tough hydraulically driven robot actuator (a device that produces force) that operates even in harsh environments such as disaster sites.
Most of the current robots are driven by electric motors, but in order to move robots with high output and strong impact at extreme disaster sites, electric motors are insufficient and it is necessary to use hydraulically driven actuators.However, the hydraulic actuators developed for general industrial machines such as power shovels are too large and heavy, and have not been suitable for smooth movement and force control of robots in the past.
Therefore, in order to solve this problem, Professor Suzumori of Tokyo Institute of Technology became the leader, and with the cooperation of JPN Co., Ltd., Bridgestone Co., Ltd., KYB Corporation, other universities and multiple flood control related companies, it has never existed before. Succeeded in developing a small, lightweight, high-power hydraulic robot actuator.This actuator has much greater power, impact resistance, and environmental resistance than conventional electric motors, and also has small size, high output, and smooth controllability.
The success of the development of this hydraulic actuator is expected to pave the way for the realization of a robot that can handle tough and gentle work even in harsh environments such as disaster sites.The group established a venture company "H-MUSCLE Co., Ltd." from Tokyo Institute of Technology to promote its practical application. H-MUSCLE will start shipping sample products from February 2019.
