Development of high-performance MR actuator and its application to 2-D force display

Force display systems are a kind of robot systems, which share the space with people while they are working, and which directly touch and display force-senses to their users. For such a robot system, it is important to estimate safety quantitatively and to assure mechanically safety. The safety can be assured by using MR actuator because MR actuator is one of clutch type actuators. And, the features of MR actuator are very preferable to those of ER actuator and other clutch type actuators, to improve the performance of force display systems. In this study, we developed an MR actuator with low inertia, high torque/inertia ratio and high responsibility. Then, a 2-D force display system using the MR actuator was developed. The characteristics of the MR actuator that are low inertia, high torque/inertia ratio and high responsibility contribute to improve the performance of force display systems.