Design and Modeling of a New Variable Stiffness Robot Joint

Safety constraints are a major aspect for human robots interaction. A new variable stiffness robot joint (VSR-joint) is proposed for operating safely. The proposed concept allows for the development of an actuation unit with a wide range of stiffness and a fast stiffness regulation response. The design of VSR-joint is compact and integrated highly and the operating is simply. The mechanics, the principle of operation and the model of the VSR-joint are proposed. The principle of operation of VSR-joint is based on a lever arm mechanism with a continuously regulated pivot point. The VSR-Joint features a highly dynamic stiffness adjustment along with a mechanically programmable system behavior. This allows an easy adaption to a big variety of tasks. Preliminary results are presented to demonstrate the fast stiffness regulation response and the wide range of stiffness achieved by the proposed VSR-Joint design.