Indirect Thermal-Aware Supervision for Agonist–Antagonist SMA Ankle Actuation
Presentation at the CEA 2026 Symposium in Bilbao on an antagonistic SMA-based ankle actuation module for early-stage rehabilitation.
CEA 2026 · Bilbao
Indirect thermal-aware SMA ankle actuation
This talk presents a thermal-aware supervision strategy for an agonist–antagonist Shape Memory Alloy actuator applied to a modular ankle rehabilitation device.
The associated paper received a Best Paper Mention in Robotics at the symposium.
0.218° published RMSE
0.163° published MAE
40 min continuous tracking
5° safety threshold
These values correspond to the analysis reported in the conference paper. The later master’s-thesis processing uses an updated analysis window and reports separate endurance metrics, including 0.220° RMSE and 0.167° MAE.
Main idea
SMA actuators can be used in rehabilitation robotics if their thermal behavior is supervised indirectly and safely.
Instead of only asking whether the ankle reached the desired angle, the controller also asks which artificial muscle should be active, which one should rest, and when it is safer to stop heating.
Slides
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Event details
Event: Simposio CEA de Robótica, Bioingeniería, Visión por Computador y Automática Marina 2026
Date: 10–12 June, 2026
Location: Bilbao, Spain
Affiliation: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid · RoboticsLab research environment
Recognition: Best Paper Mention in Robotics
Research context
The work forms part of Robótica blanda para la rehabilitación del tobillo (SRAR), R&D grant PID2023-149141OB-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and FEDER/EU.