Application of Basic Passive Dynamic Control Having High Safety to Pneumatic Artificial Muscle Manipulators

The passive dynamic control (PDC) is a control method for a mechanical system, and it executes the moving operation which is the purpose control, after executing the balancing operation which takes balance with external force. It ensures high safety by achieving stopping, position hold and speed control using a brake mechanism. However, it has been difficult to apply the PDC to a case where the balancing state is broken due to movement. This paper discusses the application of the PDC to a pneumatic artificial muscle manipulator set in vertically. By using a balancing operation device and a moving operation device separately, the balancing operation can treat large force with the controlled object fixed by the brake, and the moving operation can be executed by small force. On this principle, control with high safety can be realized. The effectiveness of the proposed motion control method is verified through experiments in positioning control.