Design and Development of Master-arm with Homogeneous Mass of Inertia Tensor for Any Direction

Abstract

In recent years, applications of master-slave manipulator systems for non-similar figures have been widely discussed, since of the advantage of slave-manipulator of any configuration can be used and that a master-manipulator can be freely designed. The major operation mode of master-slave manipulator systems can be regarded as an unilateral-mode, because the bilateral-mode which is often chosen to realize the natural feeling of operation is equivalent to the unilateral-mode as long as no external force is imposed on the slave-manipulator. Therefore, it is very important for the master-manipulator to have characteristics in itself for smooth and easy operation. From these viewpoints, gravity balancing, small inertia and low friction have been considered to be the design criteria of a good master-manipulator. This paper presents another design criterion of an excellent master-manipulator which has a homogeneous mass of inertia tensor for any direction, and the method of deciding the center of working region.