Whether grasping strongly or lifting carefully, pressing firmly or tapping gently – so that we humans can perform a movement, the interaction of opposing muscles is always necessary. This principle of agonist (player) and antagonist (opponent) has been technically implemented by our developers in all seven joints of the BionicCobot.
In its shoulder area there are three axes, in the elbow and forearm there is one each and there are two axes in the wrist. Each axis has a vane with two air chambers. These form a pair of actuators that can be continuously adjusted by filling with compressed air like a mechanical spring.
Thanks to the unique drive concept, the force potential and thus also the degree of stiffness of the robot arm can be determined precisely. In the event of a collision, the pneumatic arm gives way automatically and poses no danger to humans. This inherent flexibility in the system and low dead weight allow use without a protective cage and thus enable an immediate and safe collaboration between humans and machines.
The BionicCobot is operated intuitively via a specially developed graphical user interface. Using a tablet, the user can easily teach the actions to be performed and sequence them in any order. The programmed motion sequences are transferred via the open source platform ROS (Robot Operating System) to the integrated Festo Motion Terminal which controls the kinematics.