Energy Efficiency Improvement of a Robotic Finger With Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Gear

Takuya Otani; Hiroki Mineshita; Keigo Miyazawa; Yuri Nakazawa; Hideyuki Kasuga; Ryuki Kawai; Atsuo Takanishi

doi:10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3207752

Energy Efficiency Improvement of a Robotic Finger With Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Gear

Takuya Otani^*, Hiroki Mineshita, Keigo Miyazawa, Yuri Nakazawa, Hideyuki Kasuga, Ryuki Kawai, Atsuo Takanishi

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Improving energy efficiency of robots is an important issue for diffusion of robots in society. For reducing the energy consumption of robots, we focused on the gear weight and friction during drive, and investigated Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMW-PE) for the robot joints as a lightweight, low friction, and high impact strength material. A simple UHMW-PE gear has already been proposed, and the friction and wear reduction effects of the gear alone have been verified. However, the energy efficiency improvement has not been investigated. We designed UHMW-PE gears for comparing to the conventional metal (CAC502) gear. Each gear was incorporated into a humanoid robot finger joint, and the energy consumption when the finger bended was compared. The UHMW-PE gear with excellent self-lubrication reduced energy consumption in the robot finger by around 3%.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	100033-100040
Number of pages	8
Journal	IEEE Access
Volume	10
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3207752
Publication status	Published - 2022

Keywords

Robotics
UHMW-PE
energy efficiency
gear
low friction

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Computer Science(all)
Materials Science(all)
Engineering(all)
Electrical and Electronic Engineering

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3207752

Cite this

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title = "Energy Efficiency Improvement of a Robotic Finger With Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Gear",

abstract = "Improving energy efficiency of robots is an important issue for diffusion of robots in society. For reducing the energy consumption of robots, we focused on the gear weight and friction during drive, and investigated Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMW-PE) for the robot joints as a lightweight, low friction, and high impact strength material. A simple UHMW-PE gear has already been proposed, and the friction and wear reduction effects of the gear alone have been verified. However, the energy efficiency improvement has not been investigated. We designed UHMW-PE gears for comparing to the conventional metal (CAC502) gear. Each gear was incorporated into a humanoid robot finger joint, and the energy consumption when the finger bended was compared. The UHMW-PE gear with excellent self-lubrication reduced energy consumption in the robot finger by around 3%.",

keywords = "Robotics, UHMW-PE, energy efficiency, gear, low friction",

author = "Takuya Otani and Hiroki Mineshita and Keigo Miyazawa and Yuri Nakazawa and Hideyuki Kasuga and Ryuki Kawai and Atsuo Takanishi",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2013 IEEE.",

year = "2022",

doi = "10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3207752",

language = "English",

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pages = "100033--100040",

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AU - Otani, Takuya

AU - Mineshita, Hiroki

AU - Miyazawa, Keigo

AU - Nakazawa, Yuri

AU - Kasuga, Hideyuki

AU - Kawai, Ryuki

AU - Takanishi, Atsuo

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Improving energy efficiency of robots is an important issue for diffusion of robots in society. For reducing the energy consumption of robots, we focused on the gear weight and friction during drive, and investigated Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMW-PE) for the robot joints as a lightweight, low friction, and high impact strength material. A simple UHMW-PE gear has already been proposed, and the friction and wear reduction effects of the gear alone have been verified. However, the energy efficiency improvement has not been investigated. We designed UHMW-PE gears for comparing to the conventional metal (CAC502) gear. Each gear was incorporated into a humanoid robot finger joint, and the energy consumption when the finger bended was compared. The UHMW-PE gear with excellent self-lubrication reduced energy consumption in the robot finger by around 3%.

AB - Improving energy efficiency of robots is an important issue for diffusion of robots in society. For reducing the energy consumption of robots, we focused on the gear weight and friction during drive, and investigated Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMW-PE) for the robot joints as a lightweight, low friction, and high impact strength material. A simple UHMW-PE gear has already been proposed, and the friction and wear reduction effects of the gear alone have been verified. However, the energy efficiency improvement has not been investigated. We designed UHMW-PE gears for comparing to the conventional metal (CAC502) gear. Each gear was incorporated into a humanoid robot finger joint, and the energy consumption when the finger bended was compared. The UHMW-PE gear with excellent self-lubrication reduced energy consumption in the robot finger by around 3%.

KW - Robotics

KW - UHMW-PE

KW - energy efficiency

KW - gear

KW - low friction

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Energy Efficiency Improvement of a Robotic Finger With Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene Gear

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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