Cooperative Project
BioRob

News

A Biologically Inspired Robot Manipulator for New Applications in Automation Engineering

In the scope of the BioRob project, a novel type of compliant robot arms for applications in automation is developed and tested, for which conventional industrial robots are suitable only to a limited extent. Through the passive compliance, a high level of safety is achieved, making the bionic robot suitable for applications in the direct environment of humans without the use of additional safety precautions.

Elasticity and Lightweight Design

The motor of the bionic inspired drive is elastically coupled over wires to the joints and implements one of the basic characteristics of the muscle tendon apparatus: Elasticity. Furthermore, the wires release the arm from bending stress and enable a lighter construction without reducing the load capacity.

In spite of the flexible structure, high precision movements without oscillations or overshooting can be achieved, with our new control approach. In addition to a safer human robot interaction, elasticity opens further advantages, which can be achieved by conventional industrial robots only due to additional expenditure.

Applications

Size and load capacity of the BioRob are oriented at the human arm. The manipulator will possess a range of approx. 0.5 - 0.9 m and will have a max. load of approx. 2 - 3 kg with a dead weight of approx. 3 - 3.5 kg. The working frequency at max. load are expected to be within the range of 1 sec.

Within the cooperative project the bionic manipulator will be integrated and tested exemplarily in different applications in three different industrial sectors:

• automated handling and planting of seedlings
• flexible handling in the production of small aluminum objects with short changeover time,
• automated handling (extraction, storage) of biological probes in a cryogenic environment (cryo-banking)