Fine force reproduction based on motion-copying system using acceleration observer

This paper proposes a new motion-copying system that is capable of preserving and reproducing the motion of human operators. In conventional motion-copying systems, when the operator moves quickly, the reproduced force does not correspond to the stored force, owing to the large accelerations. Therefore, the motion-copying system proposed in this paper uses acceleration responses provided by acceleration observers, so the force is reproduced more accurately. The acceleration observer is based on a disturbance observer; it estimates the acceleration of an actuator without acceleration sensors. Furthermore, the estimation performance is not affected by the mechanical impedance of the target environment. In this article, the proposed motion-copying system is compared with current methods, and the validity of the method is demonstrated.