Zero Friction Arm driven by Counterweights

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K18053
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Intelligent mechanics/Mechanical systems
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Kawamura Akihiro 九州大学, システム情報科学研究院, 助教 (60706555)
• Research Collaborator: Ishine Ryosuke
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: ロボットアーム / カウンタウェイト / 劣駆動 / 運動制御

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The objective of this research is to develop a robotic arm with movable counterweights. In this system, the counterweight works as not only gravity compensation but also actuation. The gravitational equilibrium angle is shifted by rotating the counterweight on the link.Then, the robot is driven to realize the angle. Namely, the arm is actuated by gravitational and inertia torque of the counterweights. Then, the friction effect caused by reduction gears is drastically reduced. Thereby, this system has high backdrivability. However, there exists a difficulty of stable control of the arm due to an underactuated system. In addition, the total weight of the arm normally increase because of counterweights. Therefore, in this research, a novel control method that realizes stable motion control of the arm, and a mechanical design to utilize the weights of motors as counterweights are proposed. The results of them have been presented in domestic and international conferences.

Free Research Field

ロボティクス