Modeling and Control of

McKibben
Artificial Muscle
Robot Act uato rs

Tmdu (tondu@insa-!lse.frlund l a p e x nre with LESIA, Electrical and Compiiter Science Engineering Departmelit, INSA, Campus
de Rangueil, 31077 Toitlorise, Finrice.

1053-5rSSH/Ofl/$IO.0ODZflflOlEEE
IEEE Control Systems Magazlne 15
 The McKibben miisclc was invented in the 1950s hy phy-
sician Joseph L. McKihbcn to motorize pneumatic arm
orthotics [ 1]-[4] to helpcontrol hanrticapped hands. Thcnr-
tificial muscle, which is simple i n design, was made of a rub-
ber inner tubc covered wlth a shell hraided according to
helical weaving, as shown in Fig. l(a), The muscle was
closed by two ends, onr!being the air inpiit and the other the
force attacliincnt point. When the inncr tuhe was pressur-
ized, the muscle inhtcri and contracted. The open-luop
control of the artificial muscle by a simplc pressure varia-
tion, as shown in Fig. l(l~),made this orthotic systeni very
easy /or those wlth disabiljties t o use. Although thjs pneu-
matic artificial muscle theme became rather active 151, [ti],
this actuator type was finally replaced iIi the 1960s by clcc-
tric motors that do not need heavy and hulky pressurized
of
Artlficlal-Muscls- f 4
valve
n
j) Driven Flexor
Hinge Spllnt
--
lfi IEEE Control Systems Magarlm
gas tanks. Rcccntly, there is renewed interest in that origi-
nal actuation inode among industrial robotics researchers.
111 the 198Os, cngiiiccrs n f the .Japanesetire manufactiirer
Bridgestone proposed a redesigncc1 and more powerful vcr-
sion uf the McKIbben miisclccallerl Rubbertuator (Le., actu-
ator in rubber [7], [8)) intenrlecl to motnrjzc soft yet
powcrRd robot arms. They are called Soft-Arms [SJ and
were commercialized by Brirlgcstone for painting applica-
tions [ lO], Their opplicatiori to assist disabled individuals
[ lI]aswcllas toservicerobotics [ 12]I~asalsoIiecnatudied.
Brldgestouc's research has revived interest in studies on
pneumatic artificial muscles. New types have been dcvcl-
oped, such as the ROMAC (Robot Muscle Actuator) [ 131 or
nor~-axial-contractionsystcins [ 1414 161 Due to Its specilic
I
propcrties, however, the McKiblwn niusclc seems to be the
most suitable for applying the artificial muscle notion to ro-
botics. Research and industrial teams working 011 the
McKibben musclr. prefer t h e original design or, like
Uridgestonc's engineers, introduce n e w versions of it such
April 2000
asthe Digit Muscle [ 171 or t h e SHADOW air muscle [ 181.
Thus, the McKibbcn artificial nitisclc looks like tlic archc-
type of artificial niusclc, a topic that lias attracted interest
from robotics speclalists as well as from rieurophysiologists
for experimental validation of nervous control system
thcorics [IY]. [20]. For their part, pncumatic clcnicnt manu-
facturers arc attempting to rlcrivc Iicncfit from the darnpcrl
spring natureof theMcKibben muscle (for example, the Ger-
man nianiifacturer Festo, with its recent “Airtecture”inflat-
able building tensioned hy “counterblowing muscles,’’
which are obvioudy McKlbben muscles [21.)I Though new
applicatio~isof the McKibben artificial inuscle are expand-
ing, its physics is still not wirlcly known, and the control of
nctiiators based oti it is a toplcal issue.
This article starts by dcscribing the working principle of
the McKihhcn muscle. Static and dynamic modeling are
then prol~oserl,which notalAy takes into account the origi-
nal friction nioclel of the muscle thread. Next the fiinrlamen-
tal niodel of t h e actuator, coinposed of two antagonistic
McKihbeii musclcs, is dcvclopcd. The final section is de- (4
voted to control of the McKibben muscle actuator withln
the frameworkolvariablc-structure systcms. This controller
has heen implcmcntccl on a two-degrecof-Ireedom (2-DOF)
SCARA-type robot prototype motorized by McKibben iniis- Thin-Wa II Rubber
Braided Shell Inner Tube
cle actuators.

Description and Working Principle of

the McKibben Muscle
Due to its structure-abraidcdshcllsurr~undingaruhhcrin-
ner t u b e - t h e McKibben artificial niuscle is like n pneiiinatic
tirc hcforc liending. It is also interesting to coi~lcler theorigi-
nal McKibben description relative to classic treatises of
pneumatic tire physics [22], I231 as illustrated in Pig. 2.
Contrary to a tirc carcase weaving, however, the original-
ity of tlic McKiblicn niuscle Hes in the use of a bias angle
weak enough to allow inflation of the pressurized inner
tube. ‘I’hisallows the textile shell to open when tbc inncr
tube inflates and thcn perform a true energetic transforma-
tion thanks to the elcmentary pantograph network formed
by its helical weaving. Ry taking the cyliiiclrical shape of the
inner tube, this flexible pantograph nctwork coiiverts rir-
ciimfereritial pressure forces into an axial contractinn forrc, suine Char. initially the textile shell entirely covers the
as shown in Fig. 3(ii). This conversion principle is always ruhlier inner tube;
valid when the inusclc!contrac-ts because, due to the weav- l‘he initial inuscle length, rlcnotctl I,, is defined as Llic
ing symmctry, the artlficial muscle rr~airitainsa globally cy- active initial musclc length (i.e., the Initial length of
linrlrical shape. This principle has led us to propose a basic the musclc slicll);
parametrizatlon of the McKibben muscle hy incans 01 thc The lnltial muscle radius, deiioted r,, is rlcfinctl as the
following three parameters, shnwn in Fig. 3(1>). radius of the rubber inner tube nssuincrl in contact
9 Thc initial braid angle, rioted which corresponds with the braided shell. This definition involves con-
to tlic notion of tire carcase bias angle, is defined as sidering a thin-wall inlier tubc (this point will be dis-
the angle between the muscle axis and each tliread of cussed Inter), and bascd 011 this hypothesis, thc
the Imided shell before its expansion. Conscqucntly, radius r,, lias heen drawn In I:ig 3(b)as the initial inter-
this initial braid angle charactcrizcs tlic clcmcntery nal radius of the muscle Ixaided shell. Thus the tu11
pantograph initial anglc, ancl to gcomctrically charac- transmission of pressure to the braided shell can be
terize the weaving by this single parameter, wewillas- assumed.

Aprll 2000 IEEE Control Systems Magazine 17


This geometrical parametrization of Ihc McKibben miis-
cle does not take into account two important pheriomena:
The nonconservation rrf the cylindrical shape of the
muscle, which takes a conic shape at its ends during
contraction, as shown in Fig. 4. Modeling such a phe-
nomenon is particularly complex because it depends
on the weaving characteristics. Analysis of the
McKbben muscle by means of finite elements, RS cur-
rently developed at the University of Washirigton's
Biorohntics Laboratory [243,ctiuld help model this
phenomenon. As for us, we will consider an emplrical
sideeffectcoefficient (see the next section);
18 IEEE Control Syslcms Magazine
Thc iiitrinsic medianical aspects of the bralrlerl shell
antl thc inner rublier lube. The braided shell is as-
sumed to be unstrechtable, arid we will ijinore possi-
ble thread distortions that limit the artlficial muscle
contraction repeatability. Thn inner tube is assumed
to he fully adapted to the working pressrircs of the
musclc. Notably, the rullbcr tube radius and thick-
ness are assumed to have been correctly chosen for
the considered pressure ticld (see [25] for a discus-
sion on this point).
Static Modeling of the
McKlbben MuscIe
Basic Madel of the
Muscle Force Generator
Supposing that in a first stagcl the McKibben miisck keeps
its cylindrical shape when it contracts, it is easy to rlcter-
mine the basic equation of its force gcncrator by using the
principle of virtiial works. During coiitracticin, the inuscle
radius, initially cqunl to q,,becomes rand its length, initially
cqunl to I o , becomes 1. If the static contraction force gener-
ated by the muscle is denoted F In al>sol~itr!value, antl ii Hic
positive axis for lcngth variation is choscn in the muscle ex-
tension direction, thc virtual work of the cquilibriuni force
against the contraction force is F61,where SI design;ltes the
elementary iniiscle length variation. The virtual work of
pressure lorccs can then be expressed by considering an el-
ementaryvoluinevariation6V,as done by Chou and Hanna-
ford I261
It is also posslble, as wc have proposccl [25], to split the
prcssure forces into a lateral and an axial pressure. The vir-
tual works theorem illustratcd in Flg. 5 leads to
Therefore, the expression of the force F can be deter-
mined by considering the evolution of the miiscle volume ini-
posed Ily the hraiclecl shell. If ct designates the current braid
angle, the following relationships can immediately hr! de-
duced from the elementary pantograph opening principle:
(I/l,)=coscl/cosu, and r}rn =sincl I s i n n o
(3)
By applying thesc reliitioriships and their derivatives to
thcvirtual work equation, the following expression of Fas a
function of the control prcssure /'and thc contraction ratio
E is deduced
April 2000
 I P ( e , P ) = ( s ~ ~ ) P [ a ( l - E ) * - b0] ,5 E SE,,,, This model is equivnlcnt t o the following one originally
proposed hy Scliutle [ Z ] and recoiisidererl by Cliou and
tlaniiaford [ 261:

This model brings to light a force evnlutioii troni an ini-

tial state at zero-contraction in which the prorluced force
has a maximum valuc F;,,,, to a maximum contractlon state
E,,,, for which the force is zcrm Thc corrcsponrling expres-
sloiis are
whcrc rqnA deslgnates the muscle radius fora = 90 dcg-lion-
physically reachable-which is in practice determined from
itllrenilrl
representing the thrcarl lciigthand n,,,,,,,,
reprcsciiting
the niiniber uf turns of the thread. 'The equatinn (4) model
parametrized iri E, howcvcr,seems better adaptccl for experi-
mental validation than thc morlel pararinctrizecl in 01 ot (6).
Moreover, the tleinnnstratioii of the ~nusclc!torcc in the equa-

IntensitylPressure Converter

r - - -
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\
+ - $-Sensor
Position
Encoder

r I Force

t Interface

I
I
I Sensor

EIIEzl
O
a-
n
I .

=-
-
Computer

Aprll 2000 IEEE Cnntrol Systems Magazine 19

 - x

"0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3

. . . . . .
.
.
.
. .
.
.
.
. ~ ~.. . . Cootraction Ratio
. Contractbn Ratio
"

. . .
. . . .(a) . .
. . (W
. .
. . . .

I20 II I 1 I I I
I
!

"0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3

' . .. Contraction Ratio Contractlon Ratio
. .
(4 (d)

tion (4) form leads to the proof of the Rubbcrtuator formula cussed in this article; rathcr, we wl11 consiclcr a McKilibcn
given in Bridgestonc's technical rcpnrts and reported iti muscle equipped with a thin rubbcr tube, optimum as far as
works using Soft-Arms [R]-[10],[12],[87], [%I. The rclatian- the pressure force conversion is concerned.
shipsofcflefficientsnand bthat wchwemade explicit do riot Adisadvantagcof the model is that its desigii is based on
appear in Bridgestone's rcp(irts. the hypothesis of a continuously cylindrical-shaped mus-
EeFore addressing the conflict between this theoretical cle, wlicrcas it takes aconic shape at both ends when it COIF
model and the experiment, it is important CO recall that the tracts. Consequently, thc mare the inuscle contracts, the
model reportcd here, as wcll as Chou and Hannafortl's more its active part decreases. 'This phcnninenon results in
model, is basecl on the hyp~thesisof an lrlfinitely thin Inner the actual maxirnum co~~traction ratin theoretically being
tube. Thus, the muscle radius r is the Internal braicled shcll snialler than that expected from (5). Toaccount lor this side
radius. In practice, this hypothesis can be coiisideretl satis- effect, a parameter k ( k S 1) is considcrcd, which amplifies
fied if the ratio between thc tube thickncss and the inncr the coiitrartion ratio E by the factor h. The rnodificd force
rubber tulie is ahnut 1:lO [27]. If the tube thickness exceeds generator model is
this limit, it can no longer be assumed that prcssure forces
are fully transmitted to the krairled shell. Thc global analy-
sis by means of virtualworks is no longer valid. ],oca1analy-
sis of the distributed forces witliin the pressurized inner
tube would be necessary t o determine the proportion of and the maximum contraction ratio Is then divided by the
pressure transmitted to the shell. This point will not he dis- factor iz

20 IEEE Control Syatems Magnzirlc April ZOO0

 1 I ' I I I I I
, I ,

Contraction Ratlo
(c)

cliiis, 20 to 30" in initial Iiraicl angle), a k parameter of 1.25 to

Inserted in this way within the coiisirlered static inodcl,
the parameter k docs not modify thc vnluc of thc niaxinium
force given at zero contractinn ratio. This is in concordance
with the experinlent sinre the muscle has acylindrical shape
only when its contraction ratio is zcro [secFig. 4(a)]. Furthcr-
more, the parameter k allows ndapting the inodcl inaximuiii
contraction ratio given by (8) to the cxpcrimciital data. Thus,
It times the "slope" of the cnnsidcrctl static model.
Two approaches have beer1 cunsidered for selecting the
parameter R. In thc first approach, a constant valuc of k has
been estimated. For our muscles inadc of rayon hraidwl
threads (10 to 30 cin in initial length, 0.5 to 1 cni in initial ra-
1.35 is relcvant ( k increases when Inltlal radius increases or
initial angIc dccrcnses). Wg. 7 shows the comparlson between
the cqmiment and the force model discussed above in the
case of four muscles desigiiecl at the lalxratory and tested on
the experimcntal sctup shown in Fig. G. For a given prcssure
gcncratcrl by an inteusity/pressureeconverter (i.e., a servowlvc
generating a constant outlet pressure for a given input current)
1281, the static tnuscle force is recorded. A tensioner is iised to
make the con1raclerl muscle length variable. I n this way, thc.
static charactcristicsF I E ,P ) at cnnstnut prcwrc arc obtained.
In oiir experiments, the niuscles have a rubber tube macle of
Iiutyl o150-stim-cliarclness. At rest, the inner tidie has a lkniin
internal tliaineter arid a 0.E-mm thichiess.

Aprll 2000 IEEE Control Systems Magazlnc 21

 Experimental results validate the following propertles of
the McKiblicn muscle expressed in the force generator
model considcred:
1) Static force is globillly proportional tn muscle
cross-sectional area (x&,
2) Static forceis globally independent of initial length I,
3) Static force is glolially proprxtional to control pres-
sure P,
4) Maximum static force increases as the muscle initial
braid angle c l o decrcnses,
53 Static furce decreases almost linearlywith coiitraclioii
ratio according to a slopc globally proportional to control
pressure P.
The McKibben pneumatic artificial muscle
is undoubtedly the most promising
artificial muscle for the actuation of new
types of industrial robots,
It is iiitcresting to note that the McKibben muscle shares
the three first properties with tlic pneumatic cylinder. The
second property is limited, liowcver, b y a specific side cf-
fect due to the crimping of the muscle tips. By the mere fact
of the muscle design, the inner tube has at rest (i.e..at zero
pressure) an external radius less than r,. Consequently, in
practice, the active length of the muscle uiidcr pressure, in
its initial state (i.e.) at zero contraction ratio), is Io if we ne-
glect the minor side effect of the muscle crimping which im-
prises at muscle tips a radius a bit less than ro. That is the
reason the 15-cm-longmuscle of Flg. 7(b) produces a nraxi-
mum force about 10% less than the maximum force pro-
duccd by our 30-ctn-long reference niirscle of Fig. 7(a). The
fourth property tiigtiliglits the importance of chaosii>gthe
optimum initial braid angle to control the maximum force
gcncrated by the muscle. It also hlgtilights tlic McKibben
muscle's exceptional capability for a high maximum
Force-to-weight ratio (the mean weight of our muscles Is
ahout 50 g). 'I'hectroiceof a low initial braid anglc, however,
is limited by thc rupture iii extension of the rubber, sincc
the lower the initial braid angle, the more thc muscle radius
increases. In practicc, an initial bralrl anglc of about 20" ap-
pears to be relevant, and, in this case, the size nf the muscle
varies satisfactori[y during contraction sincc its radius al-
most doubles. The fittli property is the functional analogy
property with skeletal natural muscle. Thc "natural compli-
ance'' notion of the antagonistic muscleactuator, which has
been developed elsewhere 1291 and justifies tlic joint "soft-
ness'' of robot arms actuated by McKibben muscles, is
based 011this analogy.
The force model, including the ctinstant parameter 12, has
enabled us to validate experimentally the basic static proper-
ties of the McKibben muscle; howcver, the model fails at low
22 IEEE Control Systems Magarinc
p r t x w e , The Ileliavior of the McKibben rnuscle at low prcs-
sure brings complex phenomena into play linked to the riihhcr
elasticity of the Inner tuhc ils to the interactlon Iletwecn thc
braided shell and thc inner tube. The accurate analysis ol
these phenomena is still to he done, arid within the framework
01 this article, we will not deal witti this difficult qucstion.It is
easy, however, to itnprovc the ctinsidered static model by
making k deperident on prcssure P t o bring the corresponding
static characteristics at constant P closertottie experimcntsl
results. Tlic following twqarametcr rclatirinship has lieen
considered in which n,t and are constants estimated for
each muscle:
Fig. 9 shows t h e comparison b c
tweeu the experiment and the new
Inoclel for our reference muscle (I, = 30
cm, ro = 0.7 cm, = 20" with U,<= 3.55,
6, = 1.25) represented by circles. 'I'his
modificd m n d d is now bettcr located
at the center of the hysteresis cycle nt
each static characteristic at constant pressure. It will he
used to clcvclop our aiialysis of the McKibben rritiscle cly-
namic contraction.
Consideration of a Frktion Model
Because hysteresis corresponds to a grcatcr gcncraterl force
when the rnusclc cxtcnds (c decreasing) compared with that
generated when thc muscle contracts (E increasing), we lie-
lieve this phenoincnon is due to the thread-on-thread friction
acting inside the muscle braided shell. Friction seems funda-
mental to understanding the McKibbcn inuscle coritractioii,
as we wlll see ncxt. The working principlc of the McKiblien
rnuscle irnplies that thc fibers in contact with thc inner tube
stay rigidly lockctl with it during thc roiltraction to fully
transmit the presslire of the iniier tihe to the braided shell.
Thus, theoretically, no friction has to be takcn iuto accotint
I,ctwccn the inner tulic and the liraiclerl shell, In conse-
qucncc, the friction analysis will deal only witti the frictlon
actinginside thebraitledshell. Here wewlll IimiL OUT analysis
to the static part of the fricticin. The wcaving involves an in-
tcrlacing of the thread according to the basic scheme of Fig.
1. If we assume that 110 sliding occurs hetwccn the rubber
tuhc and the shell, the pressure inside the inncr tube is en-
tirclytransinitted to thc shell and the thread-owthread pres-
sure is consequently the inflation miisclc pressure .'I Thus
thc hilowing expression can be considered to model the
static dry friction:
where f, is the thrcad-on-thread static dry fiction coefficient
and Sco,,rnetis the contact surface. If, in blic first stage of the
Aprll2000
demonstration, we ncglcct the cylindrical shape of the shell Dynamic Modeling of t h e
thread to assume full contact between shell threads, we can McKibben Muscle
determine the contact surface as the surface covered Iiy the The dynamic contraction of the McKibben muscle has been
braided shell duc to the double-helix weaving. This surface studled using the experimental apparatus shown in Fig. 10.
is initially (I.c., bcforcinuscle cmtraction begins) the lateral Thls apparatus allows the muscle tu lift a given load by
surface of the muscle (2xrJn). The pantograph network mcans of apullcywhcn itcontracts. An cncorler mounted on
opens and the contact surface decreases whcii contrnctirm the pulley axis gives the current muscle length. A spccinl
begins. Its evolution can be determined by using tlic forcc scnsor has bcen designed; light and compact, it is di-
gcomctrical characteristics of the pantograph network rectly fixed to the muscle end to record the current force
structure of the braided shell illustrated I n Fig. 8. The produced by the muscle during contraction. Initially, the
elementary hachured pantograph of Fig. S(a) represents the load lles on a base and, in response t o a numerical signal
el e m e n t a r y c o n t a c t s u r face s,,,,,irlit = 2~~ cosaosina,, translated into pressure by means of thc intcnsity/prcssure
where s designates the constant sirlc of the pantograph. converter, the muscle contracts until it reaches its cquilib-
During contraction, this elementary surface opcns wliilc riiiin position {Fig. 10(b)]. This apparatus performs tlic iso-
keeping side s constant. The elementary contact surface tonic contraction of the muscle lifting the load m. In the
bccnmes the new hachured surface showri i n Flg. 8(b). Ry experiments reported below, control pressure, muscle
considering the thread thickness f hound to s by the equation force, and linear niuscle contraction in the form of position
f =Zscosa,sina, dcduccd froin Fig. X(a), the elementary x, witti x being defined as (lo -I) [Pig. lO(a]], are simulta-
surface of Fig. 8(h),S,,,,,,..,,,,,, =2s'cos2(xosin'a, /cosa neously recorded. 'I'heisotonic contraction proves that the
sina, can be determined. The total contact surface of the
shell against itself, Scnninct, is tlediicetl Iroin the pmportion
between these two surfaces. Having considered t h e 120 F I I I I 1 I I
muscle-specific evolution of the radius as a functioii of its
length (3), we cibtain

sina,
=(2~r,l,)- . - -
(1 - E)Jl --cos* a*(l- E ) ?
(1 13
I

Flnally (1 -e) is changed into (I- kc) to cquatc the con-

-
tact surfaceanalysiswitli the forcc-prorluctiveanalysis. Pig.
8(c) gives, in the case of our refcrencc muscle (lo SOcm, r, =
0.7 cm,cL, = 20" with k = 1.303, thesimulatcd cvolution of the
Contraction Ratio
ratio between the contact surface and i t s initial value as a
(4
tiinction of thc contraction ratio.
Using this contact surlace model, we can estimate the
trictinn coefficient from the recording o f the static muscle
force [Fig. 7(a)]. The resulting model, shown in Fig. 9, now
takes the static hysteresis cycle into accoiiiit rclativclywcll.
It has beenobtained with an estimated friction coctlicient of
0.015. Such astatic dry frictlon is in fact very low. According
to the Fibres, Plaslics, "lubbers Hmdbook [:IO], tho static
dry friction coefficient of viscose rayon 011viscose is about
0.2. Thcrcforc, wemustassunic tIirztoiily(l/l:?) of the textile
shell surface is in contact with itself, which appears to b e a
reasonable assumption in accordance with the shell thread
cylintlrical nature. If we call (l/n) thc cstiniatcd ratio of the
muscle lateral surface rulA)lng against itsclf, thc static fric- '0 0.05 0.1 0.16 0.2 0.25 0.3
tion model considered will finally be Contractlon Ratio

The dynamic McKibbcn inusclc analysis extends this

static friction analysis.

Aprll 2000 IEEE Control Systems Magazine 23

natural datnpiiig of the McKibbeii muscle is very similar to As the experiments clcarly show, however, the esti-
skeletal niuscle behavior. A simplc and general model for inated kinetic muscle stiell friction cocfticicnt is stitl
the dynamic dry friction coefficient f can he considered In higher than the one produced by rayon physics; an ap-
ttic form of the following three-parameter rclationship: proxirnatc ratio ofseven between the kinetic friction cocf-
flcient and the static one will be considered. To explain
this phenotnenon, wc have considered the glol>alI>ehav-
ior of t h e shell; the intcrlncing of t h e threads in motion
Hcrc Fs represents the static dry coefficlent considered pre- seems to play the part of a rough surface in friction the-
viously, fk the maxinium kinetic dry coefficient, aiirl X, n ve- ory. Finally, the complete dynamic McKihben muscle
locity constant between 4 and fk. In the case of solids, fk is force model, denoted P&,, where Fclcsigiiates the static
generally smaller that) f,. 111the casc of ntextile shell rul>bing expression nf (7), will be
agalnst Itself, oiir experimental results have shown f,{ is
greater t l ~ a n fThat
~ . is why we have rcpresented our consld-
ered frlction model on Fig 1l(a) according to this situatlon.
The isotoIiic contraction pcrformed usirig the Flg. 10 ex-
Its originality compared with typical solid friction models
perimental apparatus can lie written iu the equation system
[ n l ] emphasizes the McKlbben muscle's originality. Higher
shown Mow. where divides the two stagcs of the experi-
kinetic friction duc to hydrodynamic ]>henomcnais typical
mental isotonic contraction
of textile thread physics, as illustrated in Flg. ll(b), and is
related tn the friction of lubricatcd rayon threads (synthetic
textilc threads are indeed gencrally lubricated during their
manufactiire) [XI.

Friction Cneiflclenl

0.6

0
100 200 300 400
Valocliy rnlmin
(b)

24 IEEE Contrul Sptemsr Magazine Aprll 2OUI)

 40 I I I 5
measured
4.5
35
4
30
-
$3.5
.-s 3
:_..
..... ... .:....... L ....... ...
1 2.5
A 2
1.5
10
1
5
0.5
0
0.2 0.4 0.6 08 1 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Time (s) Time (s)

4.5 25
-! I I I
4

3.6

g2.5
e
7 2
&.5
1
5 .......................
0.5

0 n
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 "0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0,8 1 1.2
Time (6) Time (s)

(4

Note that the load can be lifted only after timetli,,,,whcn thr!
musclc prcssure has increased froin zero tu a value high
cnough to produce sufficient furce to the load. This equation
systctii can b e solved using t h e MATLAB snftwarc
RungcKutta procedwe. The recorrlirig of the pressure has
tieen directly used for generating a vcry accurate lincarly
inter]iolated pressure model. Fig. 12 prcscnts cxatnples of
results obtained in three dittcreiit situations of prcssure and
load: ~ J =I BO kg and P= 4 bar, m = 20 kg and P = 3 bar, m = 10 kg
and P = 2 bar. In all thc. experiments, the following parameter
values have hecn clioscu:<< / rI =0.015, f,( / r~ = 0.105 (it follows
that fk / f, is 71,n n d l , , = 0.15 m/s. l'hetwoclynarnlc paranieters
fk and X, have hccu ntljiisled using the force recording on
successivetrials so that X,Tgives the slope between successive
force extrema and ht gives the forcc cxtremum value. The
valucs lcatl to good coricordance hetwc.cn experiment and
theory tor the muscle force shape. The rcsuItingconcordancc
is good for the muscle contraction; it is not as good, however,
whcn the motion starts at very low pressurc [Fig. 12(c)], for
whjchtheforce~eeneratnrmodclis stillliniited [see Fig.O(a)].
Othcr experlnients performed for diffcrcnt prcssurcs
and loads havc confirmed the global validity of t h e
proposed model for thc sct of parameters consiclered. '['his
model finally appears to be more rclcvant than the oiic wc
have attcinptctl to Iiuilrl from a friction representation in
the form of a viscous lincar tcrni 1331.
This dynamic niarlcl hizhlights thc McKiblien muscle dy-
namic properties:

April 2ONl IEEE Conlrol Systems Magazine 25


1) The McKibben musclc contraction is naturally dampcd
by nonlinear kinetic friction inhcrcnt to its liraidcd shell;
2) The McKibhcn muscle contractinn tlma is some tenths
of a second.
These two dynamic properties, in analogy with
na t U r a1 s k e 1 et a I m u s c 1 e d y n a m i c per For nian c c s ,
complement the five static McKibbeu muscle propcrties
glveii previously.
Actuator Made of Two Antagonistic
McKibben Muscles
Working Principle of the Actuator
Two McKihbeii muscles put into antagonism define a rotoid
actuator based on the physiological model af the hiceps-tri-
26 lEEE Control Systems Magazine
I I I I I 1
Time ( 8 )
I I I
ceps systcm. The two musclcs are coIineciet1 by means of a
chain rlriviiig ii sprocket. Tlic force difterencc between ttw
agonisE and the antagonist generates a positive or negative
torquc; however, unlike riatiiral skcletal muscle, the
McKihhcn artificial muscle has no passive terision due to
the braided shell incxtensihility. Both nitiscles must be in-
flated at thc same pressiirc 4) and have thc same contrac-
tion ratio E,, in the initial statc to keep tlic actuator in good
working order. When the agwist is inflated at pressure 4
differerit from thc antagonist pressure I;, an actuator rota-
tion of angle0 is producetl, whcreas the si1111 01 the two con-
tractlon ratios (rleiioted E, and E?, respcctively) is equal to
Zc,. This principle is illustrated in Fig. 13.
From this working priticlplc, a model of thr: torque Tpro-
rluccd by the actuator can be Imilt, based 011 the static forcc
April 2000
generator model of (7). The agoiiist tnrcc will lw dcnotctl4,
the antagonist forcef.;,arid the sprocket ratIhisR. We olitairi
If we consider only the case of constant parameter k , thc
expression above can be c-leveloped in the following form:
U
continuously cylindrical-shaped muscle,
whereas it takes a conic shape at both
ends when it contracts.
'I'tie case of constant parameter k has been privileged
compared to the case of k as a func-tion o f f hccauac it lends
to this basic cxprcssinn 01 thc torqur! prorluced hy the actw
ator from which the furiclamenta1actuatr)r properties can he
derived. Because this morlcl nvcrcstiinatcs the fnrce at low
pressure, however, it overestimates the antngonistic forcc
E Axis
I
Aliril 2000 IEEE Control Systems Magazine
F2, which leads to a value of tlic torque glverl by the niodet
weaker than the actual mc. This will be ilhistratcd in Fig. 15,
showing the slope of the static gain from thc actuator model
being slightly lower than the stope of thc ndLial statlc char-
acteristlc.
When chuosing thr! initial braid angle in the range
[15"-30"],arid noting that is liinitctl to 1/2~,,,,, which in
practice means withiii thc range [O.l-O.lS],we can easily
demonstrate that the additivc term in K', 8' is a negligible
quaritity against the tcrm K, to within allout 5%.l'he simpli-
fied torquc nioclcl is deduced as
This expression makes it ossi sib le to distinguish a motor
tcrin, strictly speaking, proportional tu (4 - pZ j, from a r e
storing term of spiral spring type prc-
niorlels of the torque prorluced hy the
iiiceps-triceps system, such as the one
built tiy N. Hogan from a linear approxi-
mation of the length-tension chnracter-
istics of a cat muscle Fig, 14) [MI
T = K , d l [ b -U,) -KCu,, + [I,Y (19)
whcrc U,, and tit represent the norrrialized nervous controls
of thc liircps arid triceps, respectively, anrl T,,zbx
anrl K arc
two constants.
Thus niir model looks like the analogical forin of N. Ho-
gan's hiolngical inodel [34] I n which t h e pressure vari-
27
 zIi 2
C
4
$ ,

-0
hAusc[eLength (cm)
(3)

-2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1,s 2

AP Pressure (bar)

\
analo~ywith the ncurophysiological tcrminology [35], is
Length
now considered. The symmetricai pressure variation, ap-
(bl plied from initial pressure 1; i n Iloth muscles, will be notcd
AP. It leads to a singlc~np~itA(,'), single-output (e) control
that makes it casy t u adapt classic cnntrollers to thc actua-
tor. By putting 4 = 6+AP ancl I ; = 4)-dP in (18) above,
thc torque- no del of thc actuator becomes
/ _ - - -

which can tx written in the following forrn:

l'his static niodel highlights the main nriginality of thc ac-

tuator. Thanks tr) the constant-stiffness restoring torque,
the actuator is w r y easily co~itrollat)lcin open loop. From
('21), the following static relationship is dcduced iri which C
represetits the opcn-loop gain

ables play t h e p a r t o f biceps ancl triceps nervoiis

controls. This comparison highlights the singularly an-
thropoinorphic featiirc d the antagonistic McKibberi
inuscle actuator, which we will express later using the
natural compliance notion.
Monovariable Approach for the
McKibben Muscle Actuator Control
A Inonovariable approach of the McKitihcn niuscle actiia-
tor, which could be callcd syinmetrlcal cn-contraction Ijy
'This static gain expression has been verified cxperimerk
tally, as shown in Fig, 15, which compares the thcnretical
model l o the actual charactcristics of the actuator used on
oiir SCARA r n h t (see the next page) for which thc parame-
tcrsareasfollows:a,, =Bo, I, =34cm,r,,= O . ? c m , k = l.ZS,R=
1.5c:m, I', = 2.511ar,u,,=O.l.'l'he actualhysteresis character-
istic is a direct consequence of the braided shcll friction
against itself, whirti we have already analyzed.

28 IEEE Control Syrtama Magazine

 Furthcrmnrc, whcn the actuator has bccii pnsitionctl at Flg. 17 gives the result of the identification for both axes
angle 0 hy iiicnns of thc prcssurc control At‘ and clcviatcd of our SCARA robot. l‘his result will lie used directly in the
from this equilil,riu~nposition by ari angle variationS8, as il- control of our 2-130f; robcit arm (described below).
lustrated in Pig. lC(a), ttie restorlrig torque generated is Note that the intensity/prcssure (I/P) converters have a
quick tlytiatnic resptmse coinparcd to the McKibhen muscle
dynatiiic contraction. ‘Therefore, the viscous term is really
spccitic to the McKIbberl iuusr:le actuator. By considering
thc friction analysis rlevel(iped carlicr, we are able to inter-
prct the presence of thisviscous tcrm as the agproxlmation
‘l’his equation exprcsscs tlie natural stiffness of tlie of the kinetic friction growing with speed. The correlation
actuator, which in tlic opcn-loop equilil~riiitnposilion betweeri natural damping and kinetic friction is proved by
behaves like a spiral spring of stiffness k,, as shown in the identification of joint 2 compared to joint 1 identifica
Fig. Iti(b). tinn. With thc same actuator ;is joint 1, joint 2 drives a
W e propose to call “riatural complk”” the ~iassivc wcakcr inertial load than joint 1 and is thus more sensitive
cntnplinnce qualitygiven to the robot joint b y theMcKibben to nonlinear friction.
muscle actuator, by analogy with the passive compliance of
our joints. It has proinisc in rohotics bccausc i t cxtentls tlie Adaptation of the McKibben Muscle
passivc or active cornpliarice limited to the wrist to other Acfuator to Robot Strrrcfares
rahot joints. It can be applied to service robotics irivolvirip The previous analysis has brought to light the close anal-
contact between the rohot arm and its cnviroii~netit.Two ogy hctwcen the McKihJberi inusclc actuator and ttie skeletal
conditions are riecessary to kccp thc rohot in good working niiiscular system based on natural compliance. ‘The high
order. First, direct drive is requiretl to maintain thc nctua- inaxirniim force-ttrweight and force-to-voliinie ratios of the
tor conipliancc. This constraint will be satisfied by niearis of McKildxw iri~isclelead to a feasible adaptation of the antag-
thc actuator power. Second, the closerl-loopcontrol of the onistic McKihhcn muscle actuator to robot arms. When the
actuator induccs atlditioiial stiffness that has to be n u -
teretl. If we assume that tlic joint 1x1sbeen positioned at an-
T,
glc 0 by the control pressure AP,and if the joint is dcviatccl
69 from t h e equilibrium position, Lhc closed-loop control
,,
gciierates a pressure varlation o f [4fc 1by rear:tion. The
equation of the restoring torquc is tiow

Consequcntly, thc rescoring torque is increased in abso-

lute value by thc term kL18Pc.,,,l, which can take a value
significantly exceerlirig that of ttic tcrni k2I&l. Fnr example, 0.6
the presence of a rionrnastered integrator in thr clnscrl loop
can notably lead to a quick growth of the restoring tnrquc, 0.4
which causes il brutill backward motion. 0.2
E
This natural compliance would he of no practical utility, Y

._E
however, if thc actuator hacl no riatiwal damping. As can be = o
seer1 in fig. 17, which shows che tlynamic actuator resporise B .o.*
r
(contiriuous line) of joint 1 and joint 2 01 our SCAM-type ro-
bot (Fig. 18), thc actuator clarrips riaturally. To better under- E44
cl
stand this phctiornenon, we haveidentified alinear model ot -0.6
the actuator in open I m p . From a ~,ressiirevariationnumer-
4 8
ical step AU correspoiiding to the physical pressurc varin-
tion AP,we hnvc showii 1~yrticati.s of MATI.AH software that
it is posslble to approximate tlic actuator constltutetl by the
chain “I/P converter-McKibben muscle actuator-inertial
load” by a second-order system

April 2Rfl0 WEE Control Systems Magazine 29

 Tim8 (3)
(4
0 1 2 3
Time (s)
(b)
I/P converters are removed, the McKlbben muscle actuator
is well adapted for driving powcrful, cornpact, light, and
compliant robot arms.
Dlmensioning of the McKihben muscle actuator for maxi-
mum torque and size can be performed either hy adjustlng
both initial radius r,, and initial braid anglea, or the driving
sprocket dlameter R. Becausc the McKibben muscle maxl-
mum force is globally independent of the Initial muscle
length, For the same actuator l)ower, the joint range can he
tuned by ~noclifyingthe inilial muscle length I,. From the ba-
sic actuator schema of Fig. 13, it is easy to deduce that the
McKIbben inuscle actuator joint range is {-enlo / R (rad),
-+E& / R (rad)]. Using the parameter K,the designer can lind
acompromise between the actuator maxiniuni torque and its
joint range. From @I), it is easy to deduce that thc inaximum
torque is obtained for 0 = O and AP =Un,=. If we dcnote a s
I:,,, themaximum actuator workingpressure(ty~~lcally5or 6 within 1 cm of its desired posltim after learning. Learning
ljar), and If Po is chosen equal to F,,,, / 2, AC,,, will be equal tr)
enax/2 whlch leads to a maximum torque equal to
311 IEEE Control Systems Ma&ulne
(kit,!,,,, 12). 'I'he weak value of the parameter e,, (irriposctl by
thc fact that 2c cannot exceed the maximum niuscle con-
traction ratio of about 30%),however, implies cl~oosingreia-
tively high initial muscle icngths for joints with high angular
rariges. This point is certainly the most negative compared
with traditional clcctricill or tiydraulic robot actuators. The
rotationaxis I~eiti6rpcrpeiidiculartotl~c"muscleplane,"lmw-
cver, facilltates integration of the muscles Iongitutlii~nllyiIi-
sirlc the robot links, in thcsaine way that natural muscles are
set in o u r lirnbs.
The Z-DOI: SCAIEA-type robot ami prolotypc shown In
Fig. 18 has heen designed in the laboratory [36]. It is actu-
ated by two pairs of idcntical muscles ot parameters (o = 31
a n , r, = 0.7cm, anrln, = 23". Thetwoaxes of tlic robot are di-
rectly drivcu by sprockets with R radius of 1.5 c ~ n'.h e
chuice for E[, = 10% leads t o n joint range of k2.2rad (k130").
l h e rnaximiiin torque is aboiit 7 Nem. Both robot links are 40
cm long, which givcs the robot an 80-cmspan comparable tu
that of ttic Adept one S C A M robot. The two pairs of muscles
are inserted in the first h k , which weighs aboiit 1 ky. 'I'he
second Ilnk weighs only alioul0.G kg to facilitate thc contact
Icir the tool with its environment.
Control of Robot Arms Actuated by
McKibben Muscle Actuators
Problem Posifioa
'l'he open-loop control of thc antagonlstic McKibben ~nusclc
actuator joint position makes possible the simple open-ioop
control of McKilhen muscle robots. Duc to the high actua-
tor nonlincarities, however, this approach rcquires super-
vising of the robot task. In the case of automatic tasks,
interesting prograinmlng experiments have been dcvel-
oped by applying a neural 1ietwt)i-kto a 5-DOF Soft-Arm su-
pervised by external camcras [37]. A Kolioncn-type riciiral
network has been used to position the robot end-effector
sessions arc vcry time consuming (Le., sevcral hours), and
positioning trials take approxiinatcly 30 s. Recently, the au-
April 2000
thors liavr! dcvcloperl a feetlfnrward ncural network con-
troller, rising robot joint data anrl crxresponding measured
pressure, to lcarn a specified joint trajectory [MI. After a
training session of a few minutes, a joint tracking accuracy
hetweeri 0.1 and 1" is obtained. In the case of teleoperated
tasks, the operator can play thc part o f supervisor. 'I'he
McKihhen muscle pressure sensitivity and the response
time of its contraction are well suited to thc rlircct intcrac-
tion 01 thc McKibben muscle robot with thc liuinan opcra-
tor, as Bridgestonc's cnginecrs proved b y designing a
Soft-Arm devoted to thosc with disabilities.
I b t . widespread usc of thcsr. actuators iIi the field of arm
robotics, however, quick ancl accurate coritrot of the
McKibben muscle actuator is required. Within this frame
work, several research works have
been concerticd with thc dcvelopment
of closed-loop control of McKibben Thus our model looks like the
muscle robots.
feed forward+PIU-tvne
Having t c s t c dan-il
controller analogical form of N. Hogan's biological
this proMe~r~ i n a study siiniilatirig the control of a 2-DOF TI)-
bot actuated hy McKibberi muscles [ 441.l h e siinulation is
based OII a nonlinear empirical model of the McKibben miis-
cle [45] completed by a classic dynamic robot model. A slid-
ing-modc control approach was chosen because of its
specific rolmsttiess anrl also liecause it is then possible to
integrate a known model of the system, which contributes
to global controller robustness. We can criticize this ap-
proach on two points. I'irst, no pneumatic supply model is
consitlcrcd in the simulation. Second, it is wcll known that
the cotngletc dynamic model is difficdt to run for robot
arms of niorc than 2-DOF. The sliding-niorlc approach that
we are now developing aims to ovcrcomc these difficulties
and will be validated on a real robot arm.

flexor is usctl
tion, with lor controlling
thc cxtcnsor being used
the imo-
ls a highlights the singularly
returnspririg.A~~~ssivemusclciiistcnd anthrosomornhic feature of the
of an actlve antagonistic McKihbcn I I
muscle limits the actuator capabilities. antagonistic McKi bben muscle actuator.
v
Therefore, the authors then considerccl
a true antagonistic McKiliJen niuscle
actuator for which the adaptive pole placement scheme dis- Variable Structure Confrol of the
cussccl in [do] has been extended to the muscle couglc [.Ill. Antagonistic McKibben Musde Actuator
?'he adaptive controller is Iiasecl 011 thc on-line identification The vnriahlestructure coritrol based on the theory of vari-
of a model with five ~~arameters and thrcc time delays. Re- a1)le-structure systems [Mi] is knowii to b c particularly ro-
cently, the authors have aiinounccclthat the position regula- bust. The hlgti-galri effcct of its sliding-mode control
tion of thc jnints of their arm prototype is better than H.5" suppresses the uncertainties due to parametric variatirins,
[42]. Furthermore, reasoriable operation is ndiicvcd in less external disturbances, and variable payloads. In the case of
than 5 s and optiinuin operalion in 30 s. One may wonder, our actuator, we consider a desired joint trajectory e,,(!),
however, whe~herthe use of pncuniatic valves by this team and the tracking error lietween the desired tralectory and
docs not contribute to making the actuator model morr! thc actual onc, e([), is noted: e =(e, -0). The sllcling mode
complex (piezo-electricvalves Hocrberger piczo ZUI10,O.OO 1 is consequently associated with the switching h i e
W per valve, switching at 40-50 Hz arc! used in [39]-[41] and
high-speed MATRIX pneumatic valves operating at 100HI. in
[@I>. I p converters seem more relevant bccausc their use
leads to a siniple off-line iclentification of the actuator sys- where C is il positivc paramcter. 'I'hc equation of sliding
tem, as shown earlier. The identifled inodcl can tlim be inte- rriucle is obtairietl by the cquivalcnt control method pro-
grated in the control as a linear feedforward term [ U ](ir as posed by Utkiri [47]. According t o this method, the control
a cornporierlt of a norillnear controller, as we will see in the variable of oiir actuator A U will include its main component
discussion of oiir varinblc-structure control approacti. AUoq, the so-called cquivalcnt control, which corresponds
Mnrcovcr, Caldwcll's team does not consider the protdern to the ideal slicllng mode, ancl its l~igl~-trcqmncydiscu~~tlnu-
011s component U , which perforins thc oscillations around
of controlling several joints together. Because nf the di-
rect-drive actuator principlc, the joint coritrul must be ro- the slitllng hie according to tbc following bnsic equation:
bust cnough t o support the dynamic variation of other
robot joints. Cai and Yamaura's recent work has considcrcd

April 2000 IEEE Control Syrbmi Magarlne 31

 1 1

0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6
,-.
3 0.4 E 0.4
Y d

5 0.2
Eo
7
E -0.2
5
-034
-0.6 -0.6

-0.8 -08
-1 -1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time (s)
(4
0.6I I I I I I 1 1 1

0.6
0.4

p
h

Y
0.2 85 0.4
Od2
8
9 0
cu
E .-E 4.2
' 5 -0.2 7
7
-0.4
-0.4
-0.6

.n
Y."

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time (s}
(b)

0,5 I I I I

0.4
-
P
0.3
s 0.2
E
& 0.1 15j1
:g 0
C
:g 0
-
VI
8 -0.1 B
-
r

g-0.2
N
.-E -0.5
--
7 3

-0.3 -1 - -

-1.51
1 1
I
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time ( 5 )
(f)

IEEE Control Systems Magazlne April 21100

 2.4 I I

5 io

Aprll 2000 IEEE Control Systems Magazine 33

 The equivalent control can be determined by assuming 1
AUpq =-[(e,, + 0 ~ +6~~~ ~0 , )ri2e-!- (C - i l , ) B ] .
”

that the actuator behavcs like the Identified linear sec- cw

~

h
ond-order system:
This cxpressirm ernpliasizcs thc importance of the idcn-
4 I- + a28= MUc,. (28) tifiecldynamic joint model applied to the desired trajectory,
which plays thc part of a feedforward-typetcrni. Inserted in
From the ideal sliding condition expressed by the thc equivalent control, the icleritifierl model contributes to
s
algebric equatlon = 0 , the equivalent control can be the robustness of the control and ”lighteris”the nonlinear
written as component of t h e controllcr. The discontinuous conipo-

34 IEEE Control Systems Mapazinc

nent has been chosen bascd on thc thc work by Harashirna
on the application of sliding-mndc control to robot trajectory
tracking [48]

Somc iniprovements have heeii made to this I m i c con-

trol schctne:
To avoid vibrations, it is preferal~leto make the sigi
change cantiniious by linearizing it;
Oscillatiorisaround the sliclitig litic cati lie limited byaatlrl-
irig an acceleration tcrm to the sliding line expression:

while keeping thc previow equlvalerlt control exprcs-

sictn. Because our system cat] be identified AS sccoiitl
order, a wcak sliding surface change is consirlcrecl
with C'y1 antl C" small (typically I)etwccii 0.01 and
0.05 [nr C Iietweeri 5 atid IO);
The tllscotitiuuous c o m p o ~ i c nU~ is satiiraterl in a
given rarige (51 bar);
As it is known that the static error is not crjual l o zero
with variable structure control, ail integrator term
has been aclrtert to the controllcr,which is niarle ac-
tive when ttie static error is srnaller than a given limit
(1O")wt~ilebeingsaturatcrltoagivcri value (* 0.8 bar).
Finally, thc considered variable structure control has six
main parairieters which arc C and C" switchirig h e parainc-
ters; 11,p, 1 rliscon~iniiouscorripunent ~iarainctcrs;antl an in-
tegrator gain parameter. 'I'tiese paranicters must satisly the
slirling condition SS < 0.~ ~ i ctuning
ir cati be iiaseti 011 a basic
theoretical anaIysis of the slicling [node [49], and then finetiin-
ing can be performecl cxpcrinieritally. The control is simplc
cnougli to be sa~rilileclat high frcqiicncy (a sampling pericid 01
2 m s has been consirlcrcd in the experirnerits relinrtcrl). Fur-
thermore, because it uscs an open-loop h e a r identified inorlci he cxplainerl by its inertia hcitig snialler than thc joint 1
of the actuator system, it cnti IIC Iitted to each rotwt joint, as maxiiniiin inertia. Consequently, LIE joint 2 torquc is niorc
we have done for our 2-DOl; SCAIa-type rthot. casily disturbed hy tlic miiscle dry friction. This fact limits
Fig<19 shows theapplicntion of tlic slicling-modecontrol- a p p l i c a t f o o ~f~tlic McKihben tniiscle actuator tn the inntor-
ler to the control of joint L niid joint 2, considered sepn- izntiori of light rohot links unless we can master niuscle Iric-
mlely, of our 2-DOF rnhot arm i n the case of a joint tion witliout losing its natiiral dnniping. This friction
trajcctory tracking based on n pseudo-iraliezoitlal velucity piienorrienon also cxplains the deterioration of the clyriarnic
prnfile cleFirrerl by its cruising velocity arid acceleration accuracy whcii spccd Iiicreasee. The passage ttiroiigh xero
slopc. Three to-and-fro motinns havc hecn progranimed ot the rnuscle cnntraclion speed occurring when the joint
troni -1 rad to -1.1rad, wilh a criiisirigspeecl of 0.5 rarl/s ancl anglc changes its sign iiiclcc~lirnlilies a transition hctwcai
an acceleratioii s ~ o p cof 0.5 ra& tpjig. lg(a) nnrl (13) anti dry trictiori and kinetic friction with a cost in accuracy dl
19(d) arid ( e ) ] ,By rlctcriniriirig the position tracking error, rhc! higher given that nc.ccleratior1 is high. 111 the case of the
the rlynariiic accuracy associated with the trajcctorycan be previous trajectory cxample, the dynamic accuracy is about
defined iis thc range of errore. In tlw cnsc of joint 1 , we get a *lo forjoint 1 andaboutk3n for joint 2wlicnvelocityantl ac-
k0.53 dyiianiic: accuracy [Fig. 19(c)], and in thc case of joint celeration &ita are respectively equal to 1 rad/s ancl 1
2 , a-I.1.5" dynamic accuracy [Fig. iS(r)]. A static joirlt accii- rad/s', and i t is about k1.5"for jniiil 1 and about ?.I"for joint
racy of about -1-11.2" can also be seen 011 thcsr! curves. The 2 when vclocity and acceleration data are respectively
lower dynamic accuracy of joint 2 compared to joint 1 can equal to 2 rad/s atid 2 racl/s*.

April 200n IEEE Control Systems Magazine 35

 Fig. 20 shows the application of tlie sliding-mode contro-
ler to trajectory trackingin Cartesian space. The trajcctories
considered are point-to-point straight lines perlormed ac-
cording to a pseudo-trapezoidal vclacity profile from which
corresponding joint trajectories arc determiner1 by means of
the SCARA-robot inverse kinematic model [50]. To quantify
the dynamic accuracy in Cartesian space, a rloul>lecriterion
has hecn deflned [Fig. 21(a)J.On the one hand, a Cartesian
trajectory tracking error is defined as the norm of the vector
from the desired Cartesian trajcctory E n ( [ )to the real one
P ( f ) at each moment of the nintion. On ltic other hand, in a
more novel manlier based on the straight-line nature 01 the
considered trajectories, a path deviation crror can I)e de
fined as the algebraic distance at each moment between the
real path and the desired stralglit line. '['hesecond criterion
is purely geometrical, whereas the first criterion takes into
account both path and velocity profile deviatjon. The
straight-line trajectory corisitlcrcd to test the robot control-
lcr has been chosen long enough from one side of tho robot
warkspace to the other to characterize a mean dynaInic ac-
curacy. The Cartcsian point [O,O] corresponds to the robot
base and thex-axis tothelincofthctwolinksin thezero-joint
configuration. The considered trajectory links point A [ 0.7
4.31 to point B [-D. 1.0.71 (coorcliiiates given in meters). In the
experiment reported in Fig. 20,a 0.1-ni/scruising linear veloc-
ity antl a 0.1-m/s*linear acceleration have been considered.
Fig. 2O(a) gives the Cartesian space, Fig. 2(l(b) the actual ve-
locity profile, Fig. 20(c) and (ci) the correspondhig joint tra-
jectories, and Kg. ZO(e) arid (f) criterion evolutions. Uuring
Cartesian tralectory tracking, the joii~t1 error remains in the
range rt0.5"and the joint 2 error in the range k1.5". A mean
path deviation error of 2.5min is olitaincd with a maximum
error of 8 mm, and the mean trajectory tracking error i s
about 3.3 m m with a maximum error of 11 mm. On the
curves in Fig. 2O(e) and (0,error peaks currespollcl the ve-
locity passing through zero for one or the other joint (at de-
parture/arrival ancl when joint direction changes). We
explain this phenomenon as due to tlie transient between
the dry static anddry kinetic frictionof thc muscle thread.
Robasfness Test of the Variable Structure
Controller Applied to fhe An fagodstic
McKibben Muscle Actuator Robot Arm
The variable structure controller has been tested on the ref-
erence straight-line trajectory by varying velocity and accel-
36 IEEE Control Systems Magazlne
eration data in ttic same ratlo and loading the robot cxtrem-
ity, as shown in Fig. Itl(b). When our robut is moving in the
horizontal planc, this loarllrigcauses the inertial variation of
each robot link.& we know the robot inertia matrix, we havc
consitlercd three cases. in addition to the iionioarl case (de-
noted "none"); a load of about 500 g generating a 50% in-
crease of maximum joint 1inertia and 150%of joint 2 inertia
(case denoted "small"); a load of about 1 kg, which doubles
the prevloiis inertial varlatioiis (case rleiiotcd "n~ediiim'l);
and an overload of ahnut 1.5 kg, which trebles thc inertial
variations uf the "small" case (casc denoted "big'y).Velocity
antl acceleration trajectory generator parameters vary front
(0.1 in/s, 0.1 m/s3 to (1 m/s, I m/sS. Fig. 21(c) arid (rl) gives
tlie result for a cruising velocity of 1 ni/s (acceleration of 1
m/S') and the "big" inertial variation case.
Fig. 22 shows t h e 3-U evolution
sults show h t h the real powcr of the
McKibben niuscle actuator aiid the ro-
bustness of the sliding-macle control.
Morcover, the limitcd effect of the aclditive integral term
enables using thc sliclirig-mode cotitroller lnr accurately
performing a task involving contact betwccn the robot and
its environment without the help of any force sensor, as
shown iri 14g. 23. R straight-linc trajectory has been pro-
grammed a few millimeters behind avertically fixed window
pane, and the natural compliance ensiircls the contact of a
foam roller fixed at the robot encl.
We have also compared this variable structure con-
troller with il fuzzy contrnllcr consisting of a fuzzy PID
based on a classic McVicar-Wheelrt~itable I5 11. Under the
same cxperiniental conrlltions, t h e fuxzy controller
proves to IIC almost as robust a s the variable structure
controllcr; however, its fuzzy 1'IU slructure seems to be
totalty unadapted to the windowpane contact task exam-
ple, because of the importance of the integral term, which
results in losing the actuator natural compliaiice. IEthe in-
tegral component i s indeed esscntial in the fuzzy control-
Icr, it is a small and secondary component in the variable
structure controller because of the prcsenc:e of the identi-
fied actuator rnotlcl inside the control. 'fhis comparison
highlights t h e superior rnbustness that can be cxpected
of thc artiflcial McKibberi rnuscle actuator, which must
combine a very high insensitivity to trajectory kinematic
parameter variation for pichandplace tasks and a cere
tain insensitivity to joint deviation cluration in tasks in-
volviIlg contact. By using the s e c o n d - ( d e r actuator
linear model, the variable structure controller proves to
be superior to a fuzzy co~itrollcrwithout any actuator
April 2000
model to help t h e parametric robustness and conse- bot). ll the link inertia is too weak, accuracy decreases un-
quently maltitain the actuator natiiral compliatice. der thcsame trajectory conditions bccause of the high level
of actiiator friction (joint 2 of our 2-DOF SCARA robot). In
Conclusion Cartesian space, a mean path deviation error between 3 and
The McKiblien artificial tniiscle is a prleuiriatic device char- 6 m m has been validated o n our 2-DOFSCAMrobot moving
acterized by its high level of funrtinnal analogy with human over a speed range of 0.1 m/s to 0.5 m/s, with a maximum
skeletal muscle. While iriairitainirig a globally cylindrical load ot 1.5 kg (i.e.,30%of the weight of thcrobot's two links).
shape, the McKihben musclc procluccs a contraction force The robustness OF the varinble-structure controller has
decreasing with its contraction ratio, as docs skelctal mus- been validated. Moreover, the presence of the idcntificd lin-
cle. The maximum force-tn-weight ratio cnii bc surprisingly car model in the equivalent control limlts the controller
high for il limited radial dimension arid for a co~iventional feedback cffcct, which preserves the actuator natural com-
pressiirc range [0-Gbar]. A 50-g McKihberi rnuscle can easily pliancc, as demonstrated in a contact experiment with the
develop more than 1000 N under 5-bar pressure f o r au exter- robot tracking on a window pane.
nal radius varying From abuut 1.5 t o 3 cm. Thus, robotics Although ttie "soft" nature of the McKibben rnuscle actu-
specialists are iriterested in this well-adapted artificial mus- ator seems to limit its acciiracy atid repeatability compared
cle for motorizing powerful yet ctimpact r(ibot arms. Thc with industrial robot performances, it is likely to adapt well
basic McKithen rriuscle static modeling rlevclopcd in this to tasks at the moderate speed and accuracy required In ser-
paper, which is Iiasetl on the threemain parameters (i.e., ini- vice robotics. ' h e relationship between the joint range and
tial braid angle, initial rnuscle length, nnrl initial musclc ra- the initial length OF the McKilhen rnuscle actuator is aclraw-
dius) arid includes il three-parameter friction model of ttle hack, however, for the design of a wrist ofFering high joint
thread against itself, has shown its cfficiency in Iiotti isomet- ranges, such as PUMA robot-type wrists. Conversely, 3-DUI:
ric antl isotonic contraction. McKibben muscle wrists may cxhihit limited joint ranges,
'I'wo antagonistic McKibbcn tiiuscles definc a rotoicl ac- such as in thcliunian wrist. This rlisarlvantngc leads to an in-
tuator that profits from the McKibben muscle power. 'I'he terest in designing robot arms that cornperisate the wrist
actuator has passivc compliance, which results directly joint limitations using the redundancy of the upper arm
from thc analogous nature of the McKili1,eri rriuscle com- joints. Our 7-DOF anthropornorphic arm project [52], as
pared with skeletal n~usclc.Wc 11nvc rcrined this analogical well as that of Caldwell's team [42] or the more biological
property"natura1 compliance." Modeling of the actuator de- "anthroform arm" project of Hannafortl's team [24], will
duced from our simplificrl McKihhen m u c k model-with- help tu better definc thcapplicatlon field For McKibben mus-
out the consirtcrccl friction model-shows that this "natural cle robots.
compliance" Is based on a spiral spring-type restoring
torque. The McKibbeIi muscle actuator stilfncss proves to Acknowledgment
be completed by natural damping that we havc interpreted We acknowledge the anonyrnous referccs for their hclp
as the conscqiic~~cc of the kinetic friction produced I q the through their very pertinent remarks aiirl proposals,
muscle thread. Thus, althoi~ghhighly nonliiiear, t h e
McKibben inusclc actiiator can be approxirr~atedby a linear
References
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April ZOllO IELE Contrd Systems Magazine 37