4 ms·

(I am not a mechanical engineer) Are capstan drives a solution to some of these gearing problems?

• Animats 7mo ago
  They don't back-drive well. The whole point of this hand design is to back-drive the contact forces into the motor, where there's force control. They're somewhat bulky, too. Key concept: force-based motor control works quite well. Preserve that property through the gear train and force-based hand control works.
  • LoganDark 7mo ago
    > They don't back-drive well What? An ideal capstan drive can be backdriven perfectly fine. You only run into problems once it stops being ideal (e.g. built out of heavy parts, high gear ratio, etc.)
    • Animats 7mo ago
      It's the high reduction ratio that's the problem. If you build a 200:1 capstan, it's not going to back drive well. And it won't be anywhere near ideal.
      • LoganDark 7mo ago
        That falls under both of the examples I just listed, so yes.
• rcxdude 7mo ago
  capstan drives help with backlash (though they are in generally less stiff than gears, so it's not without tradeoffs), but they don't really help with any of the other issues.