Development of the Passive-Type Force Display System ”Neo-PLEMO”, Which Can Display the Opposite Resistance Force against Handle on the Arbitrary Link Posture

Rehabilitation for upper limbs is important for elderly people, people who have suffered a stroke and so on. In recent years, the needs for rehabilitation support systems are increasing, which use force display system. Especially, the application of a passive-type force display system is desirable for its high safety. However, there are some directions and link positions for which it is difficult to display the force in a passive-type force display system using only passive elements. To solve this problem, a method for improvement of controllability using redundant brakes had been suggested. This method made it possible to display various force directions and various postures of virtual objects. However, the system with redundant brakes has the problem that it often become huge system. In this paper, we develop the new system which can display the opposite resistance force against handle on the arbitrary link posture. This system use only two ER fluid brakes for force generation, so become compact. Moreover, we perform basic experiment in order to verify this system.