1996 Volume 1996 Issue 3 Pages 421-426
Intending to explore the possibility of an optical control robot without interposing any electrical signal, a pneumatic control robot arm controlled with a new differential optofl uidic interface was developed. The interface employs opposed light absorbing nozzle walls in a laminar proportional fluid amplifier. The fluidic output signal of the interface was amplified by a three-stage proportional amplifier gain block. Robot arm has two members and two joints moved by pneumatic rotary actuators. Two membrane type booster amplifiers with two staged nozzle-flapper valves were used to amplify the power of the output signals of the gain block so far as enough to drive the rotary actuator. PID control was applied to the robot arm system and the feasibility of the optical control was proved.
