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What is the 'Effort' parameter?

Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 1:19 pm
by hebi_newbie
I'm a little confused about what 'effort' means. When I measure it in a static actuator module, the value is showing up as -0.20 Nm, when I'm expecting it to be 0 (zero).

Can you help me understand this parameter?

Re: What is the 'Effort' parameter?

Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2021 1:31 pm
by hebi_guru
The "effort" reading is really just a reading of the torque, and is based on the output of the actuator.

As these are series elastic actuators with a spring element in them, there is some hysteresis that comes along with the torque calibration. When you apply a load in one direction on the actuators and return it back to 0 deflection you won't necessarily return to an absolute reading of 0 Nm.

We do our best to calibrate and model this hysteresis in each actuator, but that is your standard source of error in the "effort"/torque readings you will see.

Here are some example calibration plots to show you the hysteresis found in our Series Elastic actuators.
image (9).png
image (9).png (200.42 KiB) Viewed 5190 times
image (10).png
image (10).png (178.7 KiB) Viewed 5190 times