Marta Moltedo (November 2019)
Design of a Variable Stiffness Ankle Actuator and Evaluation of Its Performance in Assisting the Ankle Joint During Walking with a Powered
Ankle-Foot Orthosis
Promotor : Dirk Lefeber
Co-promotor: Bram Vanderborght
Co-promotor: Carlos Rodriguez Guerrero
Tomislav Bacek (November 2019)
Development And Experimental Validation Of An Active Knee Orthosis
Promotor : Dirk Lefeber
Co-promotor: Bram Vanderborght
Co-promotor: Carlos Rodriguez Guerrero
Svetlana Grosu (May 2019)
Multibody Dynamics Simulation in the Development of Exoskeletons and Prosthetic Devices
Promotor : Dirk Lefeber
Co-promotor: Bram Vanderborght
Co-promotor: Carlos Rodriguez Guerrero
Ilias El Makrini (May 2019)
Development of a Framework for Human-Robot Collaborative Assembly Tasks
Promotor : Bram Vanderborght
Co-promotor: Dirk Lefeber
Raphael Furnemont (April 2019)
Design principles and trajectory optimizations for Series-Parallel Elastic Actuators to improve energy efficiency
Promotor : Bram Vanderborght
Co-promotor: Dirk Lefeber
Victor Grosu (October 2018)
Real-time System Architecture for Assistive and Rehabilitation Exoskeletons
Promotor : Dirk Lefeber
Co-promotor: Bram Vanderborght
Glenn Mathijssen (September 2018)
Series-Parallel Elastic Actuation Concepts for Improved Robot Performance
Promotor : Bram Vanderborght
Co-promotor: Dirk Lefeber
Cao Hong Long (September 2018)
Development of a supervised-autonomous behavior control system for social robts in therapy.
Promotor : Bram Vanderborght
Co-promotor: Dirk Lefeber
Greet Van de Perre (March 2018)
A generic gesture method for social robots: development, validation and use in robot design
Promotor : Bram Vanderborght
Co-promotor: Dirk Lefeber
Tom Verstraten (February 2018)
New Actuation Paradigms With High Efficiency For Variable Load At Varying Speed
Promotor : Dirk Lefeber
Co-promotor: Bram Vanderborght
Karen Junius (February 2018)
Design of kinematically compatible exoskeleton structures to improve human-robot interaction in assistive devices
Promotor : Dirk Lefeber
Co-promotor: Bram Vanderborght
Joost Geeroms (June 2017)
Reducing energy cost of active transfemoral prostheses Exploiting bio-inspired passivity and lockable elasticity to achieve an efficient behavior
Promotor : Dirk Lefeber
Co-promotor: Bram Vanderborght
Pierre Cherelle (October 2014)
Development of New Generation Powered Prosthetic Feet with Explosive Motion Characteristics for Push-Off
Promotor : Dirk Lefeber
Co-promotor: Bram Vanderborght
Rino Versluys
Design of a below-knee prosthesis powered by Pleated Pneumatic Artificial Muscles
Promotor : Dirk Lefeber
The main project goal is the mechatronical development of a powered below-knee prosthesis, which distinguishes itself of conventional prostheses by the
following properties:
the prosthesis generates ankle power by using pleated pneumatic artificial muscles;
the amount of ankle power adapts to changing walking modes, i.e. varying step speeds, stairs walking and ramp walking;
the prosthetic ankle stiffness can be adjusted;
the ankle motion is no longer restricted to sagittal motion;
Jelle Saldien
Development of the Huggable Social Robot Probo On the Conceptual Design and Software Architecture
Promotor : Dirk Lefeber
Co-promotor: Bram Vanderborght
The focus of his research is the design and the construction of the robot Probo and the implementation of intelligence with emotion recognition.
Kristof Goris
Autonomous Mobile Robot Mechanical Design
Promotor : Dirk Lefeber
The focus of his research is the design and the construction of the Probo robot and the implementation of inherent safe and compliance actuation.
Pieter Beyl (2010)
Design and control of a knee exoskeleton powered by pleated pneumatic artificial muscles for robot-assisted gait
rehabilitation
Dissertation (PDF)
Promotor: Dirk Lefeber
This thesis investigates design and control concepts of a compliant gait rehabilitation exoskeleton powered by
Pleated Pneumatic Artificial Muscles (PPAMs). A knee exoskeleton,
KNEXO, has been developed for the evaluation of these concepts in unimpaired and impaired subjects. In this research prototype the intrinsic
compliance of the actuators is complemented with a dedicated assistive controller. The proposed combination of hardware and software compliance
is beneficial for physical human-robot interaction (pHRI).
This research was conducted in the framework of the ALTACRO project. See this page for more information.
Michael Van Damme (2009)
Development of a lightweight robot manipulator powered by Pleated Pneumatic Artificial Muscles
Promotor : Frank Daerden
Dissertation (PDF)
The goal of this research is the development and control of a proof-of-concept manipulator actuated by
Pleated Pneumatic Artificial Muscles (PPAMs).
Ergonomics and safety are the main objectives.
Both the system and the operator will manipulate the load directly, without intermediary control elements
such as joysticks. The load itself will be the interface between man and machine.
See this page for more information.
Bram Vanderborght (2006)
Dynamic stabilisation of a walking robot powered by actuators with controllable stiffness
Dissertation (PDF)
Promotor : Dirk Lefeber
The goal of this project is to create a lightweight biped which is able to walk in a dynamical stable way. This robot is restricted to move
only in the sagittal plane due to it's one dimensional joints of which each of them are powered by an antagonistic pair of Pleated Pneumatic Artificial
Muscles. An important issue will be how the stiffness of the joints has to change in order to have an energy-efficient robot.
More information about this thesis can be found on the webpage of Lucy: bipedal walking robot.
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Ronald Van Ham (2006)
Compliant Actuation for Biologically Inspired Bipedal Walking Robots
Promotor : Dirk Lefeber
This thesis deals with compliant actuators and their use in energy efficient walking bipeds. Two types of actuators with adaptable compliance are discussed:
PPAM (Pleated Pneumatic Artificial Muscles) and MACCEPA (Mechanically Adjustable Compliance and Controllable Equilibrium Position Actuator).
Joris Naudet (2005)
Efficient formulation of the equations of motion of multibody systems, based on canonical momenta (PDF-5Mb).
Grant of IWT (Instituut voor de aanmoediging van Innovatie door Wetenschap en
Technologie in Vlaanderen)
Promotor : Dirk Lefeber
For more information: Real time dynamic simulations.
The goal of this research is the development of an efficient algorithm for the dynamic simulation of multibody systems. This is achieved by
using a recursive formulation based on canonical momenta, resulting in a set of Hamiltonian equations.
- Bjorn Verrelst (February 2005)
A dynamic walking biped actuated by pleated pneumatic artificial muscles: Basic concepts and control issues
(PDF)
Promotor : Dirk Lefeber
This thesis reports on the developments of the robot "Lucy", which is a planar walking biped actuated by pleated pneumatic artificial muscles.
This type of artificial muscle is designed to overcome some shortcomings associated with existing types. The main purpose of the biped project is
to evaluate the implementation of these muscles and to develop some specific control strategies related to legged locomotion with compliant joints.
It is believed that pneumatic artificial muscles have some interesting characteristics which are beneficial towards actuation of legged locomotion.
They have a high power to weight ratio and can be coupled directly without complex gearing mechanism. Due to the compressibility of air, a joint
actuated with these pneumatic actuators shows a compliant behaviour, which can be positively employed to reduce shock effects. Moreover, joint
compliance can be adapted while controlling position, when two muscles are positioned antagonistically. This compliance adaptation enhances the
possibilities of exploitation of natural dynamics. The main control idea intended for "Lucy" is to combine exploitation of natural dynamics with joint
trajectory control. A trajectory generator calculates joint trajectories which ensure dynamically stable walking, and the different joint controllers
track the imposed trajectories while adapting the joint compliance, as such that the natural regimes correspond as much as possible to the reference trajectories.
This can significantly reduce control effort and energy consumption, while continuously ensuring global dynamical stability.
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Jimmy Vermeulen (May 2004)
Trajectory Generation for Planar Hopping and Walking Robots: An Objective Parameter and Angular Momentum Approach
Promotor : Dirk Lefeber
A real-time joint trajectory generation strategy for dynamically balanced legged
robots is proposed. This trajectory planner generates motion patterns based on
two specific concepts, being the use of objective locomotion parameters, and exploiting the natural upper body dynamics by
manipulating the angular momentum equation.
Specific trajectory generation strategies are developed for two different types of
robots, being a hopping monopod and a walking biped. The main difference between these strategies is that for the hopping monopod a flight phase is present,
while for the walking biped a double support phase has to be taken into consideration. Both robot models are assumed to be planar systems, moving in the sagittal
plane. The effectiveness of the developed planning strategies is verified by a variety
of computer simulations. One of the most interesting aspects of these methods is
that they are based on fast converging iteration loops, requiring a limited number of
elementary calculations only. The computation time needed for generating feasible
trajectories is low, which makes the strategies useful for real-time application.
Frank Daerden (July 1999)
Conception and realization of pleated pneumatic artificial muscles and their use as compliant actuation elements
Promotor : Dirk Lefeber
Co-promotor : Patrick Kool
This dissertation describes the development of
a new kind of Pneumatic Artificial Muscle, named the Pleated PAM.
Basically, PAMs are contractile device
operated by pressurized gas. Their core element, the fluid chamber, is a deformable
membrane, which is the reason of their low weight. Most of the existing types of PAMs use
elastomeric materials for this and, hence, their deformation is based on material
elongation. The Pleated PAM, however, deforms by rearranging its membrane. It uses a high
stiffness membrane that is initially folded together and that is unfurled upon inflation.
This leads to a strong reduction in energy losses with regard to the classical types and,
hence, develops stronger forces and higher values of maximum contraction. A 10 cm
long prototype, weighing only 60 g can pull 3500 N and contract to up to 41% of
its full length.
A revolute joint, powered by two
antagonistically coupled muscles was built and its control was examined. It is able to
generate torques in the range of 1 to 70 Nm. Thanks to a careful design, the
non-linear system’s position could be controlled by a linear PI-controller. Besides
position control, the joint’s compliance or stiffness can be easily controlled by
regulating the muscle gauge pressures.