@inproceedings{57493c48d3d24285b12a0f61f3471cb8,
title = "Walking with springs",
abstract = "Developing bionic ankles poses great challenges due to the large moment, power, and energy that are required at the ankle. Researchers have added springs in series with a motor to reduce the peak power and energy requirements of a robotic ankle. We developed a {"}robotic tendon{"} that reduces the peak power by altering the required motor speed. By changing the required speed, the spring acts as a {"}load variable transmission.{"} If a simple motor/gearbox solution is used, one walking step would require 38.8J and a peak motor power of 257 W. Using an optimized robotic tendon, the energy required is 21.2 J and the peak motor power is reduced to 96.6 W. We show that adding a passive spring in parallel with the robotic tendon reduces peak loads but the power and energy increase. Adding a passive spring in series with the robotic tendon reduces the energy requirements. We have built a prosthetic ankle SPARKy, Spring Ankle with Regenerative Kinetics, that allows a user to walk forwards, backwards, ascend and descend stairs, walk up and down slopes as well as jog.",
keywords = "Energy, Power, Prosthetic ankle, Spring",
author = "Thomas Sugar and Hollander, {Kevin W.} and Hitt, {Joseph K.}",
year = "2011",
doi = "10.1117/12.882214",
language = "English (US)",
isbn = "9780819485380",
series = "Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering",
booktitle = "Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2011",
note = "Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2011 ; Conference date: 07-03-2011 Through 10-03-2011",
}