• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.81-88
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• 2006

Control of a robot manipulator in contact with the environment is usually conducted by the direct feedback control using a force-torque sensor or the indirect impedance control. In these methods, however, the control algorithms become complicated and the performance of position and force control cannot be improved because of the mechanical properties of the passive components. To cope with such problems, redundant actuation has been used to enhance the performance of position control and force control. In this research, a Double Actuator Unit (DAU) is proposed, with which the force control algorithm can be simplified and can make the robot ensure the safety during the external collision. The DAU is composed of two actuators; one controls the position and the other modulates the joint stiffness. Using this unit, it is possible to independently control the position and stiffness. The DAU based on the planetary gears is investigated in this paper. Performance using the DAU is also verified by various experiments. It is shown that the manipulator using this mechanism provides better safety during the impact with the environment by reducing the joint stiffness appropriately on detecting the collision of a manipulator.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.168-177
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• 2007

In a number of fields, robots are being used for two purposes: efficiency and safety. Most robots, however, have single-actuator mechanism for each joint, where the tasks are performed with high stiffness. High stiffness causes undesired problems to the environment and robots. This study proposes redundant actuator mechanism as an alternative idea to cope with these problems. In this paper, Double-Actuator Unit (DAU) is implemented at each joint for applications of multi-link manipulators. The DAU is composed of two motors: the positioning actuator and the stiffness modulator, which enables independent control of positioning and compliance. A three-link manipulator with DAUs enables adaptive control of RCC. By modulating the joint stiffness of the manipulator and controlling the position of RCC, we can significantly reduce contact force during assembly tasks and surgical procedures.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.47-51
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• 2017

Generally, a working excavator has only one directional bucket tilting angle, which is up-forward. However, side direction rotation of the bucket would allow variety of working output. We designed a hydraulic rotary actuator comprising a double rod hydraulic cylinder with a rack-pinion gear set for use in excavator bucket with side tilting mechanism, thus converting the linear to angular motion. The proposed side tilting rotary actuator was designed with parts suitable for medium size of heavy duty excavator. These mechanical parts were inexpensive to purchase and the manufacturing cost was reasonable. The proposed mechanism is potentially useful for excavator with variety of working output.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.258-262
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• 2017

In this paper, we propose a new collision detection algorithm for human-robot collaboration. We use an IMU sensor located at the tip of the manipulator and the kinematic behavior of the manipulator to detect the unexpected collision between the robotic manipulator and environment. Unlike other method, the developed algorithm uses only the kinematic relationship between the manipulator joint and the end effector. Therefore, the collision estimation signal is not affected by the error of the dynamics model. The proposed collision detection algorithm detects the collision by comparing the estimated acceleration of the end effector derived from the position, velocity and acceleration trajectories of the robot joints with the actual acceleration measured by the sensor. In simulation, we compare the performance of our method with the conventional Residual Observer (ROB). Our method is less sensitive to the load variation because of the independency on the dynamic modeling of the manipulator.