Development of a Tendon-Driven System Using a Pneumatic Balloon

The development of a robot which is gentle to people in nursing and welfare has been concerned about more and more toward the aged society. For a robot in often contact with people and requiring safety and flexibility in nursing and welfare, the development of a soft actuator that is compact and lightweight has been urged. In particular, robots, which are intended for use in the held of medical care and welfare, should be safe for the human environment as they often come into contact with people. The robot hands are required to have dexterity similar to human hands, and be able to perform complicated movements. Therefore, they differ from industrial robot hands in the weight, freedom of movement of joints, and flexibility. Then, we have devised a tendon drive system using flexible silicon rubber material aiming to develop a robot hand, which is lightweight and has the same degree of freedom as biological human hands. This study will report on the basic structure of the flexible and lightweight tendon drive system that we have developed as a soft actuator. It will also report on the basic properties of the system evaluated, as compared with the case of the biological human muscle.