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Development of Simple 3D Measuring Device Using Low-Cost Wire Type Linear Potentiometer for Flexible Spherical Actuator

Yasuko Matsui, Tetsuya Akagi, Shujiro Dohta, Wataru Kobayashi, and Hiroaki Tamaki
Department of Intelligent Mechanical Engineering, Okayama University of Science, Okayama, Japan

Abstract—Rehabilitation devices help to recover physical ability of patients for keeping Quality of Life. This study aims to develop a potable rehabilitation device which can be safe to use while holding it by hands. In the previous study, the flexible spherical actuator using two ring-shaped flexible pneumatic cylinders was proposed and tested. As a displacement sensor of the flexible pneumatic cylinder, a wire type linear potentiometer was also proposed and tested. In this paper, a 3 dimensional coordinate measuring device for obtaining the relative coordinate between two stages in the actuator was proposed and tested. The measuring device consists of three wire type linear potentiometers and an embedded controller. The coordinate can be obtained by measuring distance from different three positions. As a result, it was confirmed that three tested sensor was possible to measure the coordinate between two positions of both stages.
 
Index Terms—3 dimensional coordinate measuring device, wire type linear potentiometer, flexible spherical actuator

Cite: Yasuko Matsui, Tetsuya Akagi, Shujiro Dohta, Wataru Kobayashi, and Hiroaki Tamaki, "Development of Simple 3D Measuring Device Using Low-Cost Wire Type Linear Potentiometer for Flexible Spherical Actuator," International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 215-218, May 2017. DOI: 10.18178/ijmerr.6.3.215-218