Cabled differential for cable controlled joint
AssigneeThe Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
InventorsJ. Kenneth Salisbury, Jr., Alex Nathan Kahn
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Cable-actuated differential enabling N degrees of freedom provided by a plurality of pulleys and at least N+1 tensioning cables. The cable-actuated differential increases a dynamic force range by minimizing co-activation of the tensioning cables at any operating point. A cable-actuated differential having three cables provides motor based control of a 2 DOF joint that can be applied to robots or teleoperation. A cable-actuated mechanical differential having opposing bevel gears and a middle bevel gear meshed with the opposing gear allows an output connector to controllably and independently rotate about the x axis or y axis via three operational modes without backlash.
Claims7
A cable-actuated differential having N degrees of freedom, comprising:
- (a) a first shaft with an associated first shaft direction, wherein the first shaft is supported by a mounting bracket, wherein a first pulley is fixedly attached to the first shaft, wherein a first tension element is attached to the first pulley, and wherein a first actuator is attached to the first tension element;
- (b) a first bevel gear to which is attached a second pulley, wherein a second tension element is attached to the second pulley, and wherein a second actuator is attached to the second tension element;
- (c) a second bevel gear to which is attached a third pulley, wherein a third tension element is attached to the third pulley, and wherein a third actuator is attached to the third tension element;
- and
- (d) a third bevel gear,
- wherein the first bevel gear is rotatably attached to the first shaft,
- wherein the third bevel gear meshes with the first bevel gear, an
- wherein the second bevel gear is rotatably attached to the first shaft such that the second bevel gear meshes with the third bevel gear.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.