Passive robotics: an exploration of mechanical computation

A passive wrist, of fixed design, can be programmed to execute a wide range of useful control laws. Considered in particular are wrists whose actuators are unpowered hydraulic cylinders, the ports of which are coupled to one another via variable-conductance constrictions. The wrist is programmed by selection of these conductances, much as an analog computer is programmed. The range of control laws such a device can compute is characterized mathematically.<
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