Floating Displacement-Force Conversion Mechanism as a Robotic Mechanism
This addresses a specific challenge in robotics for precise force control with low energy input, representing an incremental advancement.
The paper tackles the problem of controlling spring force with minimal operation force by extending a magnetic cancellation concept to linear springs, achieving force control with a small and steady operation force as verified by experiments.
To attach and detach permanent magnets with an operation force smaller than their attractive force, Internally-Balanced Magnetic Unit (IB Magnet) has been developed. The unit utilizes a nonlinear spring with an inverse characteristic of magnetic attraction to produce a balancing force for canceling the internal force applied on the magnet. This paper extends the concept of shifting the equilibrium point of a system with a small operation force to linear systems such as conventional springs. Aligning a linear system and its inverse characteristic spring in series enables a mechanism to convert displacement into force generated by a spring with theoretically zero operation force. To verify the proposed principle, the authors realized a prototype model of inverse characteristic linear spring with an uncircular pulley. Experiments showed that the generating force of a linear spring can be controlled by a small and steady operation force.