Patent ID: 8569988

Claim:
An elastic rotary actuator comprising: an output member rotatable around an axis of rotation; an input member rotatable around said axis of rotation; elastic members interposed between the output member and the input member in such a manner as to allow, due to their elastic deformation, a relative rotation between the input member and the output member around said axis of rotation, the input member being rotatable around said axis of rotation independently of the output member by way of said elastic members; a motor assembly arranged to drive the input member to rotate around said axis of rotation; and a control device arranged to control the motor assembly, said control device comprising a first sensor adapted to provide a signal indicative of the angular velocity of the input member, and an electronic control unit arranged to determine a desired angular velocity of the input member on the basis of a desired impedance value for the actuator and to control the motor assembly on the basis of the error between the desired angular velocity of the input member and the angular velocity of the input member determined from the signal provided by said first sensor.