Series elastic actuator (SEA)
An actuator design, introduced by Gill Pratt and Matthew Williamson in 1995, that places a spring deliberately in series between a motor and the load it drives, rather than connecting the motor rigidly to the joint. The spring absorbs shock, provides built-in force sensing through its known deflection under load, and can store and release energy across a motion.
Defined in 2 GAGE programs, which carry 5 distinct definitions of it. The wording above is taught in Engineering Judgment and Professional Formation.
How each discipline defines it
The same term does different work depending on who is using it. These are the definitions as each program teaches them, unedited.
An actuator design, introduced by Gill Pratt and Matthew Williamson in 1995, that deliberately places a spring element in series between the motor's output and the load, providing shock tolerance, more precise force control, and the ability to store and return energy during impact or cyclic loading, widely used in legged robotics and human-interaction applications. (see Topic 2.6) for this program's deeper, bio-inspired treatment of this design family.
An actuator design in which a compliant spring element is placed in series between the gearbox output and the load, providing force sensing, impact absorption, and controlled compliance. Introduced by Pratt and Williamson in 1995 and widely used in legged and rehabilitation robots.
An actuator design, introduced by Gill Pratt and Matthew Williamson in 1995, that places a spring deliberately in series between a motor and the load it drives, rather than connecting the motor rigidly to the joint. The spring absorbs shock, provides built-in force sensing through its known deflection under load, and can store and release energy across a motion.
A compliant actuator design, introduced by Gill Pratt and Matthew Williamson at MIT in 1995, that places a spring in series between the output of a motor's gearbox and the joint it drives, providing passive compliance and, through the spring's known stiffness, an estimate of transmitted force.
A rigid robot joint design that places a deliberate spring element between the motor and the load, generalized for legged robotics by Gill Pratt and Matthew Williamson (MIT, 1995), giving the joint impact tolerance and force sensitivity without making the robot's body soft.
Terms it appears with
Not an alphabetical neighbourhood: these are the terms taught in the same lessons, ranked by how often they appear together.