A Compliant Robotic Leg Based on Fibre Jamming

Humans possess a remarkable ability to react to sudden and unpredictable perturbations through immediate mechanical responses, which harness the visco-elastic properties of muscles to perform auto-corrective movements to maintain balance. In this paper, we propose a novel design of a robotic leg inspired by this mechanism. We develop multi-material fibre jammed tendons, and demonstrate their use as passive compliant mechanisms to achieve variable joint stiffness and improve stability. Through numerical simulations and extensive experimentation, we demonstrate the ability for our system to achieve a wide range of potentially beneficial compliance regimes. We show the role and contribution of each tendon quantitatively by evaluating their individual force contribution in resisting rotational perturbations. We also perform walking experiments with programmed bioinspired gaits that varying the stiffness of the tendons throughout the gait cycle, demonstrating a stable and consistent behaviour. We show the potential of such systems when integrated into legged robots, where compliance and shock absorption can be provided entirely through the morphological properties of the leg.