Assist System for Carrying a Long Object with a Human

- Analysis of a Human Cooperative Behavior in the Vertical Direction -

Y. Hayashibara, Y. Sonoda, T. Takubo, H. Arai, K. Tanie

Proceedings of 1999 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS'99), Kyongju, Korea, October 1999.

[Abstract]

This paper deals with an assist system for carrying a long object with a human operator. When we carry such an object, we often grasp both ends and move it cooperatively. Our purpose is to establish how to design the assist system which can achieve such a task. It is difficult to apply conventional control laws. On the other hand, human can achieve such a task. Therefore, we measure the human cooperative behaviors and analyze them to find the cooperative rules. Based on the rules, we propose a control law of the assist system. Furthermore, we construct a prototype system and verify the validity of the control law.