Development of High Safety Joint for Manipulator with Pneumatic Type Stiffness Changeable Mechanism

-Prototyping of a Pneumatic Type Switching Device-

Abstract

In this paper, we proposed a stiffness changeable joint mechanism with a fail-safe function. The mechanism can change its stiffness to three states, elastic-solid-elastic, according to the safety and task situation. Each stiffness state can be switched by positioning a stiffness changing part. The design parameter was decided based on the kinematic and geometric condition of the mechanism and confirmed its validity through the simulation by using a dynamic simulator.