Low Noise, High Efficiency Hydraulics for Mobile Robots

Most mobile robots today cannot perform significant physical work due to their limited strength and power density. One practical approach to achieving sufficient mechanical strength is through the use of hydraulics. However, the low energy efficiency of current, conventional approaches to mobile hydraulic power systems poses a significant limitation to the development of strong, dexterous mobile robots. Vecna proposes to solve this issue of efficiency through a system- and component-level analysis of hydraulic systems. In contrast to other approaches which consider either software or hardware designs, this analysis will examine the intersection of intelligent control policies and novel hardware design and configurations to determine their advantages for energy efficiency and recovery. Phase II work will build on Phase I designs and test results in actuator development, valving strategies, and novel compliant control policies.