Control laws to asymptotically improve kinesthetic transparency of a wearable joint

In order to extend human daily skills to the tasks which cannot be performed only with human physical capacity, not only a function of human augmentation or power assist but also kinesthetic transparency is thought to be necessary for the wearable robot. Here, the kinesthetic transparency is defined as a characteristic that a wearer feels no "kinetic effect" from the wearable robot by its any operation. This paper proposes two types of control laws to asymptotically improve the kinesthetic transparency of a wearable joint. They are based on active compensation, and a function of real-time estimation for kinetic parameters of the joint is incorporated. Experimental verification and evaluation demonstrate effectiveness of the control laws.