Balanced articulated manipulator

摘要

A master-slave manipulator which penetrates an enclosure wall through an opening fitted with a mounting plate has a slave arm and master arm pivoted respectively to each end of a pivotally mounted central cylindrical body and constituted by one or more articulated cylindrical segments in end-to-end relation. A tool or tong unit is fitted at the slave end while a control handle and balance weight are fitted at the master end. The segments of the master arm are in an inverted homothetic relationship with those of the slave arm with respect to the point of intersection of the axis of the central body with the pivotal mounting axis and are in a ratio equal to -k while the weights of the homothetic segments are in a ratio of 1/k. The movements transmitted by the master arm to the slave arm ensure that, at each instant, the angle made by the two homothetic segments of the slave arm are equal and opposite, the dimensions of one segment of the master arm being equal to k times those of the corresponding slave segment.