A new design criterion in robotic mechanism (prevention of negative power consumption)

The paper discusses a general design method for robotic actuation mechanisms which is based on the concept to prevent power consumption in the process of negative work. The author's past experiences are exemplified as the introduced design method; e.g. GDA, an energy efficient leg driving system for walking vehicle and IB magnet, a permanent magnet device which can be released with zero force. Two types of non-energy dissipation actuator system including rotational and translational motions are newly proposed based on the concept for the future actuator system of space robots. A translational non-energy dissipation arm with tether link, named Chameleon arm, are proposed and its basic mechanism is discussed.