Abstract
Towards the 21st century, mechanical systems are required to change to be more cooperative in helping human life. Fluid power systems are one of the key technologies of the human-machine cooperative systems. Flexible and soft actuation is a special feature of fluid power systems. The research committee “Fluid power in human-machine cooperative systems” in JHPS has investigated new applications of fluid power systems to the emerging field. In this paper, the results of investigation by the committee: inquiries of needs for welfare apparatus and trends in research and development in Japan are summarized.
