Safe joint mechanism based on passive compliance for collision safety

Jung Jun Park, Jae Bok Song, Hong Seok Kim

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

    23 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    A safe robot arm can be achieved by either a passive or active compliance system. A passive compliance system composed of purely mechanical elements often provide faster and more reliable responses for dynamic collision than an active one involving sensors and actuators. Since both positioning accuracy and collision safety are important, a robot arm should exhibit very low stiffness when subjected to a collision force greater than the one causing human injury, but maintain very high stiffness otherwise. To implement these requirements, a novel safe joint mechanism (SJM), which consists of linear springs and a slider-crank mechanism, is proposed in this research. The SJM has the advantages of variable stiffness which can be achieved only by passive mechanical elements. Various experiments of static and dynamic collisions showed the high stiffness of the SJM against an external force of less than the critical impact force, but an abrupt drop in the stiffness when the external force exceeds the critical force, thus guaranteeing collision safety. Furthermore, the critical impact force can be set to any value depending on the application.

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationRecent Progress in Robotics
    Subtitle of host publicationViable Robotic Service to Human
    EditorsSukhan Lee, Il Hong Suh, Kim Mun Sang
    Pages49-61
    Number of pages13
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2008

    Publication series

    NameLecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences
    Volume370
    ISSN (Print)0170-8643

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    Acknowledgements. This research was supported by the Personal Robot Development Project funded by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy of Korea. fdgdfgfdgfd

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Library and Information Sciences

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