Frictional force measurement during stick-slip motion of a piezoelectric walker

The stick-slip actuator motion is dependent on its natural frequency. The backward motion of the actuator during the slip phase due to the stiffness alters the motion of any stickslip friction principle based positioners drastically. This work is an attempt to design and fabricate a simple and compact piezoelectric walker integrated with a force sensor to measure the frictional force during the slip phase. The underlying idea is to achieve a smooth motion of the walker by understanding the dynamics during slipping.