Motion simulator for coarse and fine motion of combination of a magnetically levitated micro robot and an industrial macro robot

Magnetically levitated robots can move without lubrication, they generally have advantages to the use in the various special environments such as in a dust-free room, in a vacuum, in a flammable atmosphere, and in vivo. Meanwhile, they have a disadvantage of small working volume corresponding to the allowable air gap between the levitated object and the electromagnets. In some cases, to construct a combination of a magnetically levitated robot (which can generate a fine motion) and an industrial robot (which can generate a coarse motion and has a comparatively large working volume) seems an effective way to expand the whole working volume. On that premise, we are developing an experimental system and simulator for collaborative work between a magnetically levitated robot and an industrial robot. This paper presents the system concept and the configuration of the simulator, and the result of a preliminary simulation experiment which has been performed to evaluate mainly two elements: the numerical magnetically levitated robot model and the numerical industrial robot model.