David (formerly Hand Arm System) is an anthropomorphic robot developed at DLR that features variable stiffness actuators (VSA) in all its joints. This demo shows David drilling into a block of concrete with a drill hammer. The built in VSA enhance Davids mechanical robustness against external impacts. This allows him to handle the impacts due to the drill hammering with relative ease.

The drilling task shown requires both, precise positioning of the tool center point and vibration damping.



Realizing this demo was a joint work by Davids team:
http://www.dlr.de/rmc/rm/en/desktopde...

Learn more about the system: http://www.dlr.de/rmc/rm/en/desktopde...

Control approach: https://doi.org/10.1109/ICRA.2016.748... (ICRA 2016)

Video: Manuel Keppler, Sebastian Wolf