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[053] Citation: B. Hannaford, J.M. Winters, 'Actuator Properties and Movement Control: Biological and Technological Models ,'
In "Multiple Muscle Systems", J.M. Winters, Ed., Springer Verlag, 1990.
Abstract
Actuation is the process of conversion of energy to mechanical
form. A device that accomplishes this conversion is an actuator.
There are many types of actuators, with most including energy
transformation through multiple forms. Of course an equally vital part
of the definition of an actuator is controllability; the actuator's
conversion of energy must be modulated by a control input. Galvani
demonstrated that muscle activity could be electrically modulated. We
now know that this involves an electrical signal that, through a series
of steps that are rate-limited by the influx-efflux of calcium,
modulates acto-myosin interaction. In the 1920s Hill, Fenn, and their
colleagues broke new ground by subjecting muscle to the thermodynamic
analysis developed for the rational design of energy conversion devices
such as steam engines. We now have a fairly good idea of how chemical
energy stored in the form of ATP is converted to mechanical work.
Thus, we can view muscle as an actuator. This chapter will examine the
mechanical properties of muscle actuators in the context of
technological actuators such as those used in robot manipulators. The
goals of the chapter are: i) to elucidate and contrast the dynamic
properties of various technological actuators, with concentration on
how other actuators differ from biological muscle; and ii) to elucidate
how actuator properties influence system control strategies.
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Updated: Tue Jul 15 23:54:48 2008
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