ABSTRACT
Air muscle is essentially a robotic actuator which is replacing the conventional pneumatic cylinders at a rapid pace. Due to their low production costs and very high power to weight ratio, as high as 400:1, the preference for Air Muscles is increasing. Air Muscles find huge applications in biorobotics and development of fully functional prosthetic limbs, having superior controlling as well as functional capabilities compared with the current models. This paper discusses Air Muscles in general, their construction, and principle of operation, operational characteristics and applications.
INTRODUCTION
Robotic actuators conventionally are pneumatic or hydraulic devices. They have many inherent disadvantages like low operational flexibility, high safety requirements, and high cost operational as well as constructional etc. The search for an actuator which would satisfy all these requirements ended in Air Muscles. They are easy to manufacture, low cost and can be integrated with human operations without any large scale safety requirements. Further more they offer extremely high power to weight ratio of about 400:1. As a comparison electric motors only offer a power ration of 16:1. Air Muscles are also called McKibben actuators named after the researcher who developed it.
History
It was in 1958 that R.H.Gaylord invented a pneumatic actuator which?s original applications included a door opening arrangement and an industrial hoist. Later in 1959 Joseph.L.McKibben developed Air Muscles. The source of inspiration was the human muscle itself, which would swell when a force has to be applied. They were developed for use as an orthotic appliance for polio patients. Clinical trials were realized in 1960s. These muscles were actually made from pure rubber latex, covered by a double helical weave (braid) which would contract when expanded radially. This could actually be considered as a biorobotic actuator as it operates almost similar to a biological muscle.
Air Muscle Schematic- McKibben Model
The current form air muscles were developed by the Bridgestone Company, famous for its tires. The primary material was rubber i.e. the inner tube was made from rubber. Hence these actuators were called ?Rubbertuators?. These developments took place around 1980s.Later in 1990s Shadow Robotic Company of the United Kingdom began developing Air Muscles. These are the most commonly used air muscles now and are associated with almost all humanoid robotic applications which were developed recently. Apart from Shadow another company called The Merlin Humaniform develops air muscles for the same applications, although their design is somewhat different from the Shadow muscles.
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