Demand for ultra-precise positioning with nano-order is increasing, especially in the semiconductor industry, and fine movement stages driving piezoelectric elements are widely used. The authors proposed using pneumatic bellows instead of piezoelectric elements as actuators for this positioning and fabricated the elastic hinge-guided fine movement stage. The stage stroke was 200μm, several times longer than a general piezoelectric stage. The position resolution of less than 10nm was achieved by improving a control method, which is as precise as that of the stage driving piezoelectric elements. However, the stage oscillated continuously due to measurement noise of the stage position contained in the laser interferometer and fluid noise generated by the servo valve, resulting in significant variations in positioning. Also, the maximum stroke of the stage was determined by the elastic limit of the elastic hinge. In this study, an air bearing guided fine motion stage driven by pneumatic bellows was newly constructed and operated by a low flow noise servo valve that reduces flow noise using a slit type restrictor. Combined with the laser encoder being able to measure stage position with low noise, the positioning accuracy near the center of the stage was e±3σ=0.01±0.9nm, and positioning resolution was less than 1nm. The positioning accuracy of error, variation, and resolution was approximately ten times better than the positioning accuracy of the elastic hinge guide stage shown in the previous study. And the maximum stroke of the stage was ±1,250mm, close to the elastic limit of the bellows.

In 2025, about 380,000 caregivers are to be in short supply. One of the factors behind this shortage is early turnover due to physical diseases such as back pain. In the transfer assistance, supporting the weight of the person to be cared when standing up from a bed or wheelchair or sitting is an important issue. It is necessary to reduce the labor burden on caregivers by introducing care support devices such as nursing robots. In this study, as one method to solve these problems, “Active air pad for nursing care” is developed and verified the performance and the effectiveness, which is applying the principle of an air jack in order to assist the lifting operation of a to be cared person for the transfer work and so on. Further, to evaluate the usefulness of the developed active air pad, a survey at some nursing care facilities is conducted. The caregivers perceived its effectiveness　and pointed out some issues for the practical applications in the care facilities, for example, simplifying operation, reducing size and so on. This paper describes the fundamental performance and the control method of the prototype devices, and summarizes the questionnaire for demonstration tests conducted in the nursing care facilities for the introduction of care support device into the care nursing.