A review of current variable-stiffness actuators reveals a need for more simple, cost effective, and lightweight designs that can be easily incorporated into a variety of human-interactive robot platforms. This thesis considers the potential use of compliant mechanisms to improve the performance of variable-stiffness actuators. The advantages and disadvantages of various concepts using compliant mechanisms are outlined, along with ideas for further exploration. A new variable-stiffness actuator that uses a compliant flexure as the elastic element has been modeled, built, and tested. This new design involves a variable stiffness joint that makes use of a novel variable transmission. A prototype has been built and tested to verify agreement with the model which shows a reasonable range of stiffness and good repeatability. Ideas for further exploration are identified.

<p dir="ltr">To ensure safety, traditional industrial robots must operate within cages to separate them from human workers. This requirement has led to the rapid development of collaborative robots (cobots) designed to work closely to humans. However, existing cobots often prioritize <a href="" target="_blank">performance </a>aspects, such as precision, speed, and payload capacity, or prioritize safety, leading to a challenging balance between them. To address this issue, this dissertation introduces innovative concepts and methodologies for variable stiffness mechanisms. These mechanisms are applied to create easily fabricated cobot components to allow for controllable trade-offs between safety and performance in human-robot collaboration intrinsically. Additionally, the end-effectors developed based on these mechanisms enable the flexible and adaptive gripping of objects, enhancing the utility and efficiency of cobots in various applications.</p><p dir="ltr">This article-based dissertation comprises five peer-reviewed articles. The first essay introduces a reconfigurable variable stiffness parallel-guided beam (VSPB), whose stiffness can be adjusted discretely. An accurate stiffness model is also established, capable of leveraging a simple and reliable mechanical structure to achieve broad stiffness variation. The second essay discusses several discrete variable stiffness actuators (DVSAs) suitable for robotic joints. These DVSAs offer high stiffness ratios, rapid shifting speeds, low energy consumption, and compact structures compared to most existing variable stiffness actuators. The third essay introduces a discrete variable stiffness link (DVSL), applied to the robotic arm of a collaborative robot. Comprising three serially connected VSPBs, it offers eight different stiffness modes to accommodate diverse application scenarios, representing the first DVSL in the world. The fourth essay presents a variable stiffness gripper (VSG) with two fingers, each capable of continuous stiffness adjustment. The VSG is a low-cost, customizable universal robotic hand capable of successfully grasping objects of different types, shapes, weights, fragility, and hardness. The fifth essay introduces another robotic hand, the world's first discrete variable stiffness gripper (DVSG). It features four different stiffness modes for discrete stiffness adjustment in various gripper positions by on or off the ribs. Therefore, unlike the VSG, the DVSG focuses more on adaptability to object shapes during grasping.</p><p dir="ltr">These research achievements have the potential to facilitate the construction and popularize of next-generation collaborative robots, thereby enhancing productivity in industry and possibly leading to the integration of personal robotic assistants into countless households.</p>

La commande des actionneurs électropneumatiques a été un sujet largement traité au cours des dernières décennies. Le caractère fortement non-linéaire de son comportement en a fait un cas d'étude particulièrement pertinent dans le cadre d'une démarche d'application de la théorie de la commande des systèmes non-linéaires. L'utilisation de ces techniques a été comparée aux approches linéaires traditionnelles et généralement jugée largement supérieure notamment en termes de précision ou de temps de réponse. Dans ce manuscrit nous abordons très spécifiquement l'aspect multivariable du système et introduisons la transformée A-T, similaire à la transformée de Park appliquée classiquement aux systèmes électriques, afin de donner une forme strict feedback à son modèle d'état, de clarifier les phénomènes physiques mis en jeu lors de sa commande et de distinguer les deux degrés de liberté du système. Cette transformée permet en outre une comparaison directe avec les moteurs électriques décrits dans le repère de Park. Ce parallèle rend notamment possible la solution du problème délicat de l'observation de la position à vitesse nulle en transférant des méthodologies déjà validées sur des systèmes électriques. L'exploitation des deux degrés de liberté est illustrée par la synthèse de lois de commande combinant le suivi d'une trajectoire de position du piston au respect d'un second critère variable (réglage de la pressurisation moyenne, optimisation de la consommation instantanée). L'utilisation d'un actionneur électropneumatique asservi comme actionneur à compliance variable est étudiée. Une loi de commande basée sur la transformée A-T est proposée pour contrôler simultanément la position et la raideur pneumatique de l'actionneur. Une méthodologie de réglage des gains de commande est proposée pour définir l'impédance en boucle fermée du système. L'influence de la raideur pneumatique sur la raideur en boucle fermée est étudiée. L'utilisation d'une source d'énergie alternative (de l'hélium sous pression) est également pour la première fois mise en œuvre. L'influence du changement de gaz sur le dimensionnement de l'actionneur électropneumatique est étudiée et une méthodologie permettant d'utiliser les lois de commande prévues pour de l'air est proposée. L'ensemble des propositions faites dans ce manuscrit est testée et validée sur un banc d'essais à la structure inédite. Ce dernier allie deux actionneurs, l'un électropneumatique (l'actionneur étudié) et l'autre, un moteur plat électrique (l'actionneur de charge). L'utilisation de celui-ci permet la génération d'efforts perturbateurs dans une large bande passante ainsi que la modification en temps réel des paramètres mécaniques dynamiques de la charge. / Control of electropneumatic actuator is a subject which has been thoroughly dealt with in the past decades. The strongly non-linear behavior of those systems made them a particularly relevant case study for applications of the non linear control theory. The use of those techniques has been compared to the traditional linear approaches and is generally considered as more efficient in terms of precision and response time. In this work, we specifically deal with the multivariable character of this actuator and we introduce the A-T transformation, similar to the Park Transformation used for electrical systems study, in order to give a strict feedback form to its state model, clarify the physical phenomena occurring during its control and distinguish the system's two degrees of freedom. This transformation allows a comparison with electrical motors described in the Park's frame. This parallel allows to solution the complex problem of zero speed observation of the piston's position by transferring the methodologies which have been previously used on electrical systems. The utilization of the two degrees of freedom is illustrated by the synthesis of control law which combines the piston position trajectory tracking with the respect of a given criterion (which can be the pressurization level or the instantaneous gas consummation optimization). The use of an electropneumatic actuator as a variable stiffness actuator (VSA) is studied. A control law base on the A-T transform is proposed in order to simultaneously control the position and the pneumatic stiffness of the actuator. A control gains tuning strategy is proposed to allow the system closed loop impedance tuning. The influence of the pneumatic stiffness over the closed loop stiffness is studied. An alternative energy source (pressurized helium) is also used for the first time. The influence of the change of gas over the actuator sizing is studied and a methodology allowing using control laws designed for air applications is proposed. Every proposition are tested and validated using an innovative test bench with a unique structure. The latter combines two actuators. One is an electropneumatic actuator (the one studied) and the other one is a linear motor (used as the load actuator). The use of the latter allows disturbance generation in a wide bandwidth and the real-time tuning of the load dynamic characteristics. Finally, the tools developed in this PHD are used in order to validate the implementation of an electropneumatic solution to the thrust vector control problem of a nano scale space launcher. Data provided by the CNES (the French National Space Agency) are used to de ne specific requirements and the flight conditions are reproduced on the test bench to assess the solution quality.