An energy efficiency index for elastic actuators during resonant motion

The energetic advantages of series and parallel elastic actuators have been characterized in the literature considering different elastic systems and different tasks. These characterizations usually determine the energy consumption of a specific system during a specific task and generalize poorly. This paper proposes an energetic characterization of elastic actuators, following an analytical approach, rather than a data-driven one. In particular, this work analyzes the energy consumption of elastic actuators during resonant motion and introduces a novel efficiency index. This index characterizes energy consumption as a function of inherent actuator parameters only, generalizing over the specific tasks. The proposed analysis is validated using simulations and experiments, demonstrating its coherence with analytical results.

Automated summary

This paper proposes an analytical approach to characterize the energetic advantages of elastic actuators, focusing on the energy consumption during resonant motion. A novel efficiency index is introduced to generalize the energy consumption based on inherent actuator parameters. The analysis is validated through simulations and experiments, showing consistency with analytical results.