Development of an anthropomorphic force-controlled manipulator WAM-10

This paper describes the development and the evaluation of an anthropomorphic force-controlled manipulator WAM-10 (Waseda Automatic Manipulator #10). The manipulator consists of a seven-D.O.F. whole arm, and a thirteen-D.O.F. four-fingered hand. A target of the WAM-10 is realization of human-robot symbiosis and collaboration ensuring collision safety. The developed arm employs an original joint mechanism, MIA (Mechanical Impedance Adjuster), which can realize ideal compliance and safety motion. The hand is designed with consideration of human interactive tasks, such as palmer grip. The results of the evaluation experiments show that the WAM-10 has capability of realizing high performance in compliant motion control.