A Two-DOF Ultrasonic Motor Based on Longitudinal and Bending-Bending Vibrations for Manipulator

A novel two-DOF ultrasonic motor based on longitudinal and bending-bending vibrations was introduced in this paper. This proposed two-DOF ultrasonic motor is potential in driving the hyper-redundant manipulator, which would significantly decrease the number of the driving motor, thus reduces the cost of the manipulator. The structure and the working principle of the novel ultrasonic motor was illustrated, the driving mechanism of the proposed ultrasonic motor to drive the hyper-redundant manipulator was proposed. The longitudinal vibration was used to drive the proposed motor runs along the manipulator, and bending-bending vibrations were utilized to rotate the joint of the manipulator. Then, the finite element method was used to design and optimize the configuration of the proposed ultrasonic motor. The longitudinal and orthogonal bending-bending vibrations were obtained. This project provides a new idea for optimizing the hyper-redundant manipulator from the perspective of motor, and provides basis for the two DOF ultrasonic motor to drive the hyper-redundant manipulator.