Fondazione Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia

Universitá Degli Studi Di Genova

Nikolaos Tsagarakis

Darwin G Caldwell

WooSeok Choi

Ioannis Sarakoglou

Stefano Cordasco

Alessio Margan

Arturo Laurenzi

Edoardo Romiti

Enrico Mingo Hoffman

Luca Muratore

Lorenzo Baccelliere

Navvab Kashiri

Jörn Malzahn

Gustavo A Medrano-Cerda

Lorenzo Saccares

Yifang Zhang

Arash Ajoudani

Vishnu Dev Amara

Stephen Morfey

A modular configurable robot, comprising robot modules comprising a coupling mechanism including an electrical coupling member comprising a network communication signal connection, an arrangement forming upon coupling an orientation signal, an integrated circuit comprising a microcontroller circuit with unique identification code and I/O ports coupled to said electrical coupling to receive orientation electrical signal, a communication slave module comprising ports and registers storing state values of the ports, one port pre-designated as input, the ports being open or closed depending on the port state, the robot comprising a master communication module forming with said slave modules a master slave communication network topology, a server hosting a database of robot module parameters, accessible by unique identification code, said master module retrieving from said communication slave module the unique identification code, and from the database robot module parameters, and from said microcontroller circuit said information of a relative orientation.

Modular configurable robot, corresponding method and computer program product

An underactuated exoskeleton for lower-limbs, for supporting the knee of a user, includes a first and a second coupling frame and a movement means associated with the first and with the second frame configured to confer to the second frame a roto-translation movement with respect to the first frame or vice versa. The exoskeleton further includes a junction means operatively interposed between the movement means and the first frame and/or the second frame configured to allow a relative rotation between the first and the second frame in a second plane, orthogonal to the first plane, a rotation of said second frame about said main axis of the leg and a relative translation between the first and the second frame in the second plane.

Exoskeleton for lower-limbs

A humanoid robot foot () comprises: a foot base (), at least one leaf spring () acting as a flexible toe of the foot, said at least one leaf spring () having a rear portion () rigidly connected to a flat surface () of the foot base (), a front portion () projecting from the foot base () and an intermediate portion () which is not rigidly connected to the foot base () and is therefore freely deflectable, along with the front portion (), as a result of the application of an external force on the front portion (), and a stiffness adjustment device () for actively changing the stiffness (K) of said at least one leaf spring (). The stiffness adjustment device () comprises a roller assembly (), which is held in contact with the intermediate portion () of said at least one leaf spring () and is movable relative to said at least one leaf spring () along a longitudinal axis (x) of said at least one leaf spring (), and an actuation unit () arranged to move the roller assembly (), and hence the point of contact (P) of the roller assembly () with said at least one leaf spring (), thereby varying the length (l) of the cantilevered portion of said at least one leaf spring (), and hence the stiffness (K) of said at least one leaf spring ().

Humanoid robot foot comprising an active variable stiffness mechanism

Growing community of inventors

Genoa, Italy

Nikolaos Tsagarakis