A Reconfigurable Actuation Unit for Modular Cable-Driven Robots

To address most of the cable-driven robot challenges, this work aims to create a fully modular, portable, customizable, adaptable, collaborative, and reconfigurable cable-driven robot. An actuation unit composed of a reconfigurable SP (Spherical-Parallel) serial architecture that manipulates a cable is the core of the proposed design. The proposed actuation unit can be connected in series with others and can collaborate in parallel with other units to control a load/end-effector position using multiple cables. Actuation units collaborating between them in parallel configuration can be connected to different reference frames such as chairs, tables, stretchers, and other shaped frames. The proposed modular design for cable-driven robots is ideal for performing tasks where scenarios and user requirements change, and the robot-obstacle and the robot-load/end-effector interaction are variable such as rehabilitation applications. The conceptual design of the proposed actuation unit is described in this paper. Simulations showed the feasibility of the proposed design.