Development of a New Backdrivable Actuator for Haptic Interfaces and Collaborative Robots

Abstract

Industrial robots are most often position controlled and insensitive to external forces. In many robotic applications, however, such as teleoperation, haptics for virtual reality, and collaborative robotics, a close cooperation between humans and robots is required. For such applications, force sensing and control capabilities are required for stable interactions with the operator and environment. The robots must also be backdrivable, i.e., the robot must be able to follow user's induced movements with the least possible resistance. High force efficiency is also desirable. These requirements are different from the design drivers of traditional industrial robots and call for specific actuators and reducers. Many such devices were proposed in the literature. However, they suffer from several drawbacks, offering either a limited reduction ratio or being complex and bulky. This paper introduces a novel solution to this problem. A new differential cable drive reducer is presented. It is backdrivable, has a high efficiency, and a potentially infinite reduction ratio. A prototype actuator using such a reducer has been developed and integrated on a test bench. The experimental characterization of its performance confirms its theoretical advantages.

The Advanced Control Approach based on SMC Design for the High-Fidelity Haptic Power Lever of a Small Hybrid Electric Aircraft

“…We tune the control parameters of the control algorithm given by Equations (33) and (38). We focus on the robustifying gain D, and the desired mass m d m , and the other control parameters are fixed.…”

“…The control law proposed in this paper is given by Equations (38) and (33). It is a two-degrees-of-freedom control architecture.…”

“…Humans use haptic sense in interaction tasks for object exploration, movement, and manipulation, and in communication as well [21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. A haptic interface is a haptic device that allows for haptic indirect interaction with a real or artificial environment (e.g., [30][31][32][33]). It is a mechanical device designed to provide force feedback for human haptics' stimuli, which refers to the information transmitted by kinesthetic interaction.…”

Physical Analysis of Handshaking Between Humans: Mutual Synchronisation and Social Context

“…Indeed, the frequency of HS may depend on the psychological state of the persons and can also be related to personality traits, but this point was not studied in this article. Time to synchronize (for Greeting 0.28 ± 0.16 s and for Consolation 0.28 ± 0.18) presents a challenge for robot joint mechanical system control [2] and may need use special designed mechanical joints [20]. In our opinion, the control of this duration value will contribute to humanoid robot acceptance as a partner.…”

High Resolution Actuators

“…Finally, the last paper, referenced in [15] proposes a new differential cable drive reducer which is backdrivable, has a high efficiency, and a potentially infinite reduction ratio. A prototype actuator using the reducer has been developed by the authors and integrated on a test bench and experimental characterization of its performance confirms its theoretical advantages.…”