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Design and analysis of a Stewart-platform-based six-axis load cell

Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2017. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (page 43). / In this work, a six-axis load cell based on the geometry of a Stewart platform was developed. Its geometry and functional requirements were motivated by the needs of robotic limbs designed to be attached to human workers to support them in typically unergonomic positions. The sensor can measure forces and torques in six degrees of freedom, and can stably support the worker in various hanging positions while still being sensitive to load measurements in different directions. Furthermore, it is made from inexpensive, commonly available cantilever beam load cells. In the least accurate direction, Mx, our measurements were consistently 20% below the nominal applied load. In the most accurate directions, Fx, My, and Mz, our measurements were consistently within 5% of the nominal applied loads. Performance can be optimized using the condition number of the transformation matrix. The full-scale version of the hex sensor is also designed and optimized based on its condition number. / by Maria Rosa Ruiz. / S.B.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:MIT/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/112395
Date January 2017
CreatorsRuiz, Maria Rosa, S.B. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ContributorsH. Harry Asada., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering.
PublisherMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Source SetsM.I.T. Theses and Dissertation
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Format43 pages, application/pdf
RightsMIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission., http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

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