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This was the first design considered by the full team, and is based on a mechanical coupling via a belt drive between the output shaft and the motor shaft. The drive belt is actually a timing belt to prevent slippage. The elasticity and compliance are provided by the tensioning elements. The force sensing comes via measuring the angle of the tensioner by an encoder or a potentiometer.
In the version shown above, two tensioning elements were used; the final revision had a single tensioning element to make the design simpler. Note that the unshown cable from the tensioners to their springs wraps around the inside of the near portion of the tensioner and would mount to the case beyond the tensioners, thus pushing the top portions of the tensioners in rather than out.
Research by the team revealed that it is difficult to make the tensioner both an effective tensioner and an effective force sensor, and therefore the Sprung Motor design was considered as an alternative.
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The contents of this page are Copyright © 2007 Matthew Aasted, Guilherme Cavalcanti, Jeffrey DeCew, Christopher Dellin, Gill Pratt, Kevin Sihlanick, and Jon Tse.