Experimental Validation of a 7-DOF Power Soft Robot Driven by Hydraulic Artificial Muscles

Hydraulic artificial muscles offer superior perfor- mance compared to most pneumatic artificial muscles, but their suitabilityinmulti-DOFroboticsremainsunverified.Wefabricated a 7-DOF power soft robot spanning over 1.5 m using 29 McKibben hydraulic artificial muscles. We analyzed the proposed robot’s workspace, payload capacity, and compliance based on the prop- erties of the hydraulic muscles and conducted several validation experiments. The robot successfully handled a payload of more than 25 kg at a maximum pressure of 5.0 MPa and exhibited passive compliance ranging from 0.5 to 2.0 mm/N with valves fully closed. Furthermore, the robot demonstrated strong impact resistance and successfully performed tasks such as concrete chipping. These re- sults demonstrate the capability of muscle-driven robots to perform diverse tasks in a range of industrial environments.