Affiliations: [a] System and Control Engineering Laboratory, Production Systems Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology, 1-1 Hibarigaoka, Tempaku-cho, Toyohashi, Aichi, 441-8580 Japan | [b] Department of Electronic Control Engineering, Gifu National College of Technology, 2236-2 Kamimakuwa, Motosu-city, Gifu, 501-0495 Japan
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to present the expert massage robot using a multi-fingered robot hand. First, the fingertip forces applied by an expert human therapist was measured using sheet distribution pressure sensors, and the obtained data was recorded in a computer. After the measurements were taken, the human expert's fingertip force was reproduced by teaching and playback method using the robot. Through simulation and experiments, the usefulness of the proposed control systems was demonstrated. Second, in order to advance the above teaching and playback control system, the present paper gives a modeling of human skin muscle through robot perception of impedance, and a control strategy using impedance control to implement adaptive control system, even if human condition is changed. The model validity is demonstrated via many experiments by using multi-fingered robot hand and human body. Based on robot perception of human muscle impedance, impedance control is proposed, and its effectiveness is shown via computer simulation study.
Keywords: Human skin muscle model, multi-fingered robot hand, massage control, position-force control, impedance control
