1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of controlling a wearable robot. More particularly, the present invention relates to technology for controlling the exact motion of a wearable robot by detecting the intended torque of a user that is applied to the wearable robot.
2. Description of the Related Art
In industrial settings, there are many jobs in which high-load/heavy weight objects must be handled. Recently, in order to reduce the load being handled by a worker's body and to enhance the ability of a worker to carrying out work in which such high-load/heavy weight objects are handled, wearable robots have been developed that can easily allow high-load/heavy weight objects to be moved by a wearable robot when a worker puts on the wearable robot and manipulates the robot using only a slight operating force.
Such a wearable robot is typically provided with a gripper, which is used to directly hold and lift an object of a particular weight (hereinafter referred to as a “weight object”), and a handle, which is gripped by the user and used to apply an operating force to the gripper. Many different types of weight objects may be lifted by the gripper. Therefore, the robot is controlled based on the assumption that the weight of the weight object is not known. Accordingly, in order to suitably control the robot based on the operating force applied by the user, an appropriate sensor is typically mounted between the gripper and the handle so that a precise understanding of the intended manipulation torque applied by the user can be obtained by the wearable robot, and the weight of a weight object can be adequately detected, allowing the user to lift and manipulate the weight object via the robot
Methods of mounting a force/torque sensor between the gripper and the handle and calculating the intended manipulation torque of the user and the weight of the weight object using the output value of the force/torque sensor are precise. Unfortunately, such a precise force/torque sensor is very expensive, and also increases the weight of the portion of the wearable robot in which the sensor is installed.
Accordingly, there is a need for techniques that allow a wearable robot to be able to precisely extract the intended manipulation torque of the user using a relatively inexpensive and lightweight sensor mounted on the wearable robot.