Contactless Planar Actuator With Manipulator: A Motion System Without Cables and Physical Contact Between the Mover and the Fixed World

In this paper, a novel motion system is presented that provides completely contactless operation from the fixed world. It consists of a contactless planar actuator with 6-DOF and long-stroke movement in the x-y plane, with a 2-DOF manipulator on top of the floating platform. The contactless energy transfer (100 W continuous) to the moving platform for operating manipulator is integrated into the magnetic suspension. The manipulator is controlled by a controller on the fixed world with a low-latency wireless link based on a custom protocol (< 400-mus additional closed-loop delay). The behavior of the system is demonstrated with measurements of the experimental setup.