Sensorless contact force estimation of robot arm using fishing line artificial muscle

Abstract

As a new soft actuator with flexibility and high power/mass ratio, a fishing line artificial muscle actuator had been proposed. This actuator expands and contracts in response to temperature change. Utilizing the flexibility, quietness and lightness, it has been applied to safe robot hands not to damage objects or environment. In this research, we estimate and control the contact force between an object and robotic arm. In this paper, we design the estimation system and verify the proposed method through experiments.