PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a high signal-to-noise ratio.SOLUTION: The invention provides an SEA architecture for controlling the torque applied by an SEA that has application to controlling the position of a robot link. The SEA architecture includes a motor 32 coupled to one end of an elastic spring 36, and a load 38 coupled to an opposite end of the elastic spring, where the motor drives the load through the spring. The orientations of a shaft of the motor and the load are measured by position sensors 40, 42. Position signals from the position sensors are sent to an embedded processor 44 that determines the orientation of the load relative to the motor shaft to determine the torque on the spring. The embedded processor receives reference torque signals from a remote controller 46, and the embedded processor operates a high-speed servo loop about the desired joint torque. The remote controller determines the desired joint torque on the basis of higher order objectives by their impedance or positioning objectives.
ARCHITECTURE FOR ROBUST FORCE AND IMPEDANCE CONTROL OF SERIES ELASTIC ACTUATORS