Transmission of high precision force sensation by bilateral system with flexible actuator

A flexible actuator that consists of a thrust wire and a linear motor realizes the flexible arrangement of an actuator and an end-effector. The flexible actuator is able to transmit force sensation through a thrust wire. Thus, it is expected to be utilized in haptic motion systems. However, there is a non-negligible error between the generated force of the actuators and the actual force that is transmitted through the thrust wire. This is because of the disturbances such as friction and mechanical play of a thrust wire. In a bilateral system with thrust wires for haptic motion the disturbance must be compensated. A new method for the compensation of the disturbance in the bilateral system with thrust wire is proposed in this paper. The effectiveness of the proposed method is investigated through experimental results.