Development of a Human Safe, Multi-Degree-of-Freedom Robot Arm Technology using Pneumatic Muscles

Abstract

Robotic systems intended for domestic housekeeping or elderly care tasks will have interaction with humans and therefore demand an intrinsically safe design. Conventional robotic systems are driven by heavy, high power and high stiffness electric motors, making them unsafe for human coexistence. To overcome this problem, we have developed a robotic arm system using pneumatic muscle actuators, which is intrinsically safe given its low weight and pliant structure. In this paper we present the design of the robot arm and associated control system, showing that the robot has positioning and force control accuracy sufficient for daily domestic tasks.