Development of a Human Symbiotic Assist Arm “PAS-Arm” (Experimental System and Creation of Virtual Guiding Surfaces)

We describe a new robotic assist device: the passive assist arm (PAS-Arm). PAS-Arms are intended for direct physical interaction with a human operator. PASArms are physically passive. The force to manipulate the arm end must be provided by the operator. Their purpose is not to enhance human strength, but to provide virtual guiding surfaces that constrain and guide the motion of the 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 differential gears. In this paper, we first discuss the manipulability ellipsoid for the PAS-Arm. The major axis of the ellipsoid is the direction in which the arm end may be easily manipulated, and vice versa. We have developed an experimental system for the PAS-Arm. The CVTs of the experimental system may not adjust the transmission ratio to zero. Second, we describe an algorithm to address that problem. Finally, we present initial experiments that verify the PAS-Arm mechanism. The experimental results successfully produced virtual guiding surfaces. 11. This paper is the full translation from the transactions of JSME, Series C, Vol.76, No.763, pp. 611-618, 2010.