Variable impedance control of meal assistance robot using potential method

In the near future, a labor shortage will constitute a significant problem in the fields of welfare and nursing care. To solve this problem, researches are working to develop welfare robots such as an upper extremity motion assistance robot. Our goal is to develop a meal assistance robot that can help a disabled person. Meal environment information is transmitted to an operator by haptic control. For better operational feeling, variable impedance control using the potential method is applied. The potential field was derived by a diffusion equation to construct an algorithm of velocity restriction for haptic feedback.