Engineering Commons^™

Pulse Modulation In Braided Pneumatic Actuators Mimics Contractile Behavior Of Biological Muscles, Mohamad Elzein

Student Research Symposium

Advancements in robotics and bioengineering aim to emulate biological muscle systems through robotic actuators, blending mechanical strength with biological adaptability. A lesser-explored aspect is mimicking the pulse-like control characteristic of biological muscles, which contract in response to action potentials from motoneurons, with muscle contractile force relying heavily on the timing between these potentials. This study explores the effect of pulse lengths and the gaps between pulses on braided pneumatic actuators (BPAs), which mimic the nonlinearity and dynamic response of biological muscles. It hypothesizes that artificial muscles utilizing pulse-based control will exhibit a similar force dependency on the intervals between pulses …