Modeling & characterizing stochastic actuator arrays

This paper presents a method of modeling and subsequently characterizing stochastically controlled actuator arrays. The actuator arrays are built from cells, each containing six piezoelectric actuators and an amplification structure; however the results can be generalized to actuator arrays using solenoids, pneumatic cylinders, or any other fast acting linear actuators. The cells are controlled using an all-on all-off bi-stable stochastic process wherein all cells are given a common input probability (control) value which they use to determine whether to actuate or relax. Laying out the cells in different networks gives different actuator array properties, which must be found before the actuator arrays can be applied to manipulators. A method is provided to calculate actuator array properties such as: travel, required actuator strength/displacement, force range, force variance, and robustness for any actuator array configuration. Finally the properties of several illustrative examples are shown and a discussion covers the importance of the properties, trends between actuator array layouts and their properties, and the course of future work in the area.