Considering the interaction between people and machines under safety constraints without utilizing difficult and complex control strategies, this paper proposes a new actuator design - adaptive coupled elastic actuator (ACEA) with adjustable characteristics adaptive to the applied output force and input force. This would provide oncoming robotic systems with an intrinsic compromise between performance and safety in unstructured environments (i.e., exhibiting desired intrinsic lower and higher output impedance depending on different operation situations). Having introduced its concept and design, this paper also presents modeling, control and analysis for the ACEA system, not only to provide useful information to investigate the performance and basic characteristics of the designed system, but also to benefit the design of a more advanced controller in the near future. Finally, experimental results are presented to show the desired properties of the proposed ACEA system.
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