Investigating the Effect of a Series Elastic Actuation Retrofit to Black-Box Actuators
A retrofit of a custom series elastic element to a black-box actuator improved force control bandwidth from 10.32 Hz to 30.32 Hz (2.93x), outperforming a commercial sensor by 7.63% at a cost of 25 GBP.
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Key points
- A torsional SE element was designed with stiffness 2155.4 Nm/rad via FE analysis.
- Open-loop force control bandwidth increased by 2.93x after retrofit.
- Closed-loop performance exceeded a commercial sensor by 7.63% at a fraction of the cost.
Why it matters
This matters because a torsional SE element was designed with stiffness 2155.4 Nm/rad via FE analysis.
Technical impact
May affect compliance requirements, model release timing, data governance, and enterprise procurement.
[2605.24127] Investigating the Effect of a Series Elastic Actuation Retrofit to Black-Box Actuators
[Submitted on 22 May 2026]
Title:Investigating the Effect of a Series Elastic Actuation Retrofit to Black-Box Actuators
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Abstract:In robotic applications, actuators are typically designed to be stiff with minimal backlash to ensure precision and repeatability. However, this limits compliance, leading to potential damage and poor force control in uncertain environments. Series Elastic Actuation (SEA) introduces compliance to enhance disturbance rejection and enable force measurement via Hooke's Law but reduces system bandwidth.
A custom Series Elastic (SE) element was retrofitted to a black-box actuator to mitigate non-linearities like backlash and static friction. Integrating the SE element enabled high-fidelity force measurements, improving force control bandwidth and performance.
A torsional SE element was designed through Finite Element (FE) analysis, yielding a stiffness of 2155.4 Nm/rad. Open-loop force control bandwidth was measured for the original motor and the SEA-integrated configuration, while closed-loop bandwidth was assessed using feedback from the SEA and a commercial force sensor. The SEA module increased bandwidth from 10.32 Hz to 30.32 Hz, a 2.93X improvement. Additionally, it outperformed the commercial sensor by 7.63% despite costing 25 GBP, a fraction of the price.
Comments: Related GitHub repo available here: this https URL
Subjects:
Robotics (cs.RO)
Cite as: arXiv:2605.24127 [cs.RO]
(or arXiv:2605.24127v1 [cs.RO] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.24127
arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)
Submission history
From: Ivan Tregear CEng [view email] [v1] Fri, 22 May 2026 18:41:12 UTC (12,356 KB)
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