Shock Absorbing Safe Mechanism Based on Transmission Angle of a 4-bar Linkage

4절링크의 전달각에 기초한 충격흡수식 안전 메커니즘

Unlike industrial manipulators, the manipulators mounted on the service robots are interacting with humans in various aspects. Therefore, safety has been the important design issue. Many compliant robot arm designs have been introduced for safety. It is known that passive compliance method has faster response and higher reliability than active ones. In this paper, a new safe mechanism based on passive compliance has been proposed. Passive mechanical elements, specifically transmission angle of the 4-bar linkage, springs and shock absorbing modules are incorporated into this safe mechanism. This mechanism works only when the robot arm exerts contact force much more than the human pain tolerance. Validity of the safe mechanism is verified by simulations and experiments. In this research, it is shown that the manipulator using this mechanism provides higher performance and safety than those using other passive compliance mechanisms.