Intelligent assist device: design and development

The material handling operation is an important process in a modern manufacturing environment. This operation is traditionally done by an operator with the help of a mechanical assist device such a conveyor belt, an overhead hoist or a trolley. These devices compensate for lift but not motive force augmentation. In these devices, the operator still needs to use his physical strength to move the work piece to a desired destination. The inertia forces generated by the heavy work piece and the lift device itself may still be large enough to pose a danger to the operator. Intelligent Assist Device, IAD, is a hybrid servo-driven automation device that integrates the strength of a machine and the intelligence of a human being to optimize performance in lifting operations. In this paper, the overall strategy for actuation and control of an intelligent assist device is presented. The collision avoidance scheme of an IAD and experimental results are provided.