Development of a master-slave system with pneumatic positioning device

Abstract

In the midst of changing social conditions, there is an increasing need for the practical application of pneumatic control systems that are high safety and reliable with a simple mechanism for long-term use. In a pneumatic control system incorporated in a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, a surgical robot, or the like, improvement in positioning accuracy is realized by electronic control. However, there are problems that the life of the controller is shorter than that of the controlled object, malfunction is likely to occur in a strong electromagnetic field, and operating environment is limited. On the other hand, the pneumatic control system comprising entirely mechanical components has the features that the life of the controller is long, it operates even when there is a power failure, and it is resistant to noise. Therefore, by clarifying the performance through modeling and characteristic analysis, the usefulness will be expanded and lead to new application development. In this study, we proposed a master-slave system comprising entirely mechanical components and examined the possibility of application development. We prototyped a master-slave system with a pneumatic positioning device, and by analyzing various characteristics, it was confirmed that it could be incorporated into a transfer assistance system, a transfer system, a master-slave robot, etc.