Broad Area Colloquium For AI-Geometry-Graphics-Robotics-Vision
(CS 528)
Digital Mechatronics and Polymer Muscle Actuators for Robotic Systems
Steven Dubowsky
Field and Space Robotics Laboratory
MIT
Monday, April 19, 2004, 4:15PM
TCSeq 200
http://graphics.stanford.edu/ba-colloquium/
Abstract
Digital mechatronic devices approximate the motion of continuous mechanisms by
using a larger numbers of binary Degrees-of-Freedom. Digital mechatronic
devices have excellent repeatability, are reliable, robust and are simple to
control. Artificial muscle actuators that are made of elastomers are ideally
suited digital mechatronic devices. These actuators have unique properties such
as very large strain and large forces. They are light and inexpensive. This
makes them appropriate for many diverse applications, from disposable medical
devices to space systems. Using polymer actuators in binary devices overcome
some of their limitations, such as internal creep, which limit their use in
more conventional designs. This presentation will include recent analytical and
experimental studies of the fundamentals of polymer actuated mechatronic
devices. Applications addressed will include their potential as key elements
in future planetary exploration systems and their current potential
applications in medical robotics.
About the Speaker
Dr. Dubowsky is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is currently a Visiting
Professor in the Design Group of the Stanford Mechanical Engineering
Department. Professor. Dubowsky is the director of the MIT Mechanical
Engineering Field and Space Robotics Laboratory (http://robots.mit.edu/).. He
is the Principal Investigator of a number of research programs sponsored by
organizations that include DARAP, NASA, The US Navy, The Center For the
Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, industry, the Japanese Space
Agency and the British government. The research of these programs focus on the
design and control of robotic systems. Dr. Dubowsky has published over 200
technical and he is a Fellow of the ASME and of the IEEE.
Contact: bac-coordinators@cs.stanford.edu
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