Development of a Pneumatic Muscle Actuator System for a Robotic Hand

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ISSN: 2278-0149 (Online)
Abbreviated Title: Int. J. Mech. Eng. Robot. Res.
Frequency: Bimonthly
DOI: 10.18178/ijmerr
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Home > Published Issues > 2022 > Volume 11, No. 9, September 2022 >

IJMERR 2022 Vol.11(9): 676-681
DOI: 10.18178/ijmerr.11.9.676-681

Benjamin Coetzee, Zvikomborero Hweju, and Khaled Abou-El-Hossein

Ultra-High Precision Engineering Research Unit, Department of Mechatronics, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Abstract—The purpose of this project is to develop a Pneumatic Muscle Actuator (PMA) system for a robotic hand that can accurately imitate the motion and function of a human muscle. The project consists of several different areas of design which include: a mechanical component, an electrical component, a programming component, a pneumatic component, and a control systems component. The mechanical components are designed to be simple, and they consist of a mechanical hand and a testing station or panel. The mechanical hand structure was designed to have a total of three, independently operated limbs, each of which contained a Single Degree of Freedom (SDOF). The electrical system consists of an Arduino Mega 2560 micro-controller, six linear potentiometers and a power supply. The micro-controller is used to produce three Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) output signals which are varied in accordance with the analogue inputs of the potentiometers. The programming component for the project involves the programming of the micro-controller. The pneumatic component of the project consisted of three PMA’s, three rapid switching valves and an air purifier. The PWM outputs from the micro-controller are then used to control the rapid switching valves which in turn will control three PMA’s. Controlling the pressure and positioning of the PMA’s proved to be problematic and thus several control systems will be considered.

Index Terms—pneumatic, muscle actuator system, robotic hand.

Cite: Benjamin Coetzee, Zvikomborero Hweju, and Khaled Abou-El-Hossein, "Development of a Pneumatic Muscle Actuator System for a Robotic Hand," International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research, Vol. 11, No. 9, pp. 676-681, September 2022. DOI: 10.18178/ijmerr.11.9.676-681

Copyright © 2022 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that the article is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.