Design of a compliant bio-inspired camera-positioning mechanism for autonomous mobile robots

Abstract

This paper presents the design of a compliant bio-inspired camera-positioning mechanism. The device combines human muscle actuation scheme and spherical mechanism with the aim of miniaturizing the orienting mechanism. The active orientation system which controls two DOFs (pan and tilt) were synthesized by using compliant mechanism. The flexible mechanisms utilize the deflection of curved beams to drive the orienting modules. A shape and size optimization process using genetic algorithm was used for the design. The multi-objective of the optimization problem is the maximum orienting angles and a linear input-output relation. To demonstrate the feasibility of the optimum design, finite element analysis was carried out. The results show that the proposed design exhibits essential characteristics of a camera-orientation system such as light weight, compactness and high precision.