Development of passive elements with variable mechanical impedance for wearable robots

A new type of passive element with variable mechanical impedance is proposed. Since the proposed elements are lighter, smaller and softer than the previous passive elements, these elements have the possibility to develop wearable robots. In the paper, the principles of the variable mechanical impedance are explained and the basic experimental results demonstrate the performance of the proposed element. Moreover, a wearable robot for virtual reality is developed by using the proposed element and it is shown that the developed wearable robot is utilized as a force display in the virtual world.