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Abstract Variable stiffness robots may provide an effective way of trading-off between safety and speed during physical human–robot interaction. In such a compromise, the impact force reduction capability and maximum safe speed are two key performance measures. To quantitatively study how dynamic parameters such as mass, inertia, and stiffness affect these two performance measures, performance indices for impact force reduction capability and maximum speed of variable stiffness robots are proposed based on the impact ellipsoid in this paper. The proposed performance indices consider different impact directions and kinematic configurations in the large. Combining the two performance indices, the global performance of variable stiffness robots is defined. A two-step optimization method is designed to achieve this global performance. A two-link variable stiffness link robot example is provided to show the efficacy of the proposed method. 

Abstract In this paper, we study the effects of mechanical compliance on safety in physical human–robot interaction (pHRI). More specifically, we compare the effect of joint compliance and link compliance on the impact force assuming a contact occurred between a robot and a human head. We first establish pHRI system models that are composed of robot dynamics, an impact contact model, and head dynamics. These models are validated by Simscape simulation. By comparing impact results with a robotic arm made of a compliant link (CL) and compliant joint (CJ), we conclude that the CL design produces a smaller maximum impact force given the same lateral stiffness as well as other physical and geometric parameters. Furthermore, we compare the variable stiffness joint (VSJ) with the variable stiffness link (VSL) for various actuation parameters and design parameters. While decreasing stiffness of CJs cannot effectively reduce the maximum impact force, CL design is more effective in reducing impact force by varying the link stiffness. We conclude that the CL design potentially outperforms the CJ design in addressing safety in pHRI and can be used as a promising alternative solution to address the safety constraints in pHRI. 

Abstract To reduce injury in physical human–robot interactions (pHRIs), a common practice is to introduce compliance to joints or arm of a robotic manipulator. In this paper, we present a robotic arm made of parallel guided beams whose stiffness can be continuously tuned by morphing the shape of the cross section through two four-bar linkages actuated by servo motors. An analytical lateral stiffness model is derived based on the pseudo-rigid-body model and validated by experiments. A physical prototype of a three-armed manipulator is built. Extensive stiffness and impact tests are conducted, and the results show that the stiffness of the robotic arm can be changed up to 3.6 times at a morphing angle of 37 deg. At an impact velocity of 2.2 m/s, the peak acceleration has a decrease of 19.4% and a 28.57% reduction of head injury criteria (HIC) when the arm is tuned from the high stiffness mode to the low stiffness mode. These preliminary results demonstrate the feasibility to reduce impact injury by introducing compliance into the robotic link and that the compliant link solution could be an alternative approach for addressing safety concerns of physical human–robot interactions. 

Twenty-four centrifuge model tests of liquefaction and lateral spreading, performed as part of a round robin test program, are shared and compared in this archive. Please see the general report section of the published project for an overview comparison and background of all of the experiments. One document in the report (with “ReadMe” in the file name) describes the organization of the data archive. The comparisons presented in the general report section will serve as an index to help the users find individual experiments of interest. This data from 24 model tests is published as nine separate experiments in this archive (one experiment per centrifuge facility). Each experiment includes two or three model tests and each model test includes between one and three destructive shaking events. All of the tests modeled a 4 m thick deposit of Ottawa F-65 sand with a 5-degree surface slope in a rigid box. The tests covered a range of ground motion intensities and a range of relative densities to define the median response and the sensitivity of the response to relative density and shaking intensity. The nine centrifuge facilities involved in this test program included Cambridge University (UK), Ehime University (Japan), IFSTTAR (France), NCU (Taiwan), KAIST (Korea), Kyoto University (Japan), RPI (USA), UC Davis (USA), and Zhejiang University (China).