Development of a human symbiotic assist arm PAS-Arm

This paper presents the PAS-Arm (Passive ASsist Arm), a novel assist arm based on passive robotics. PAS-Arms are intended for direct physical interaction with a human operator. PAS-Arms are physically passive. Their purpose is not to enhance human strength but to produce specified but arbitrary two-dimensional guiding surfaces that constrain and guide the motion of the human operator. PAS-Arms have three joints and a three dimensional workspace but possess only two degrees of freedom due to the reduction of degrees of freedom created by a combination of continuously variable transmissions (CVTs) and a differential mechanism. This paper proposes the basic concept and principle of PAS-Arms. We also describe the design and experimental results of a prototype PAS-Arm.

[1]  Sumio Ishii,et al.  Meal-assistance Robot “My Spoon” , 2003 .

[2]  Kan Taguchi,et al.  A Study of Human-Assist-Robot , 2003 .

[3]  Junji Furusho,et al.  New Actuators Using ER Fluid and Their Applications to Force Display Devices in Virtual Reality and Medical Treatments , 1999 .

[4]  Wayne J. Book,et al.  The Concept and Implementation of a Passive Trajectory Enhancing Robot , 1996 .

[5]  Rt Walker.  Passive-type Intelligent Walking Support System , 2004 .

[6]  Kazuhiro Kosuge,et al.  Passive-type intelligent walking support system "RT Walker" , 2004, 2004 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37566).

[7]  J. Edward Colgate,et al.  The Cobotic Hand Controller: Design, Control and Performance of a Novel Haptic Display , 2006, Int. J. Robotics Res..

[8]  J. Edward Colgate,et al.  Cobot architecture , 2001, IEEE Trans. Robotics Autom..

[9]  Mineo Higuchi.  Development of a Human Symbiotic Assist Arm "PAS-Arm" (Basic Concept and Mechanism) , 2007 .

[10]  J. Edward Colgate,et al.  Passive Robotics: An Exploration of Mechanical Computation , 1990, 1990 American Control Conference.

[11]  R. Brent Gillespie,et al.  An Assistive Cobot for Aid in Self Care Activities , 2002 .

[12]  M. Waldorff Gomes,et al.  Control approaches for a dissipative passive trajectory enhancing robot , 1997, Proceedings of IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics.

[13]  Sadao Kawamura,et al.  Wearable Force Display Using a Particle Mechanical Constraint , 2002, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[14]  Antonín Svoboda,et al.  Computing Mechanisms and Linkages , 1965 .

[15]  Kazuhiko Kawamura,et al.  Trends in service robots for the disabled and the elderly , 1994, Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS'94).

[16]  J. E. Colgate,et al.  Cobots: Robots for Collaboration With Human Operators , 1996, Dynamic Systems and Control.

[17]  Paul Bosscher,et al.  Haptic Cobot Exoskeleton: Concepts and Mechanism Design , 2006 .