POWER ASSIST DEVICE AND CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR

摘要

A control method for a power assistdevice (50) provided with an operation handle (6), aforce sensor (7) that detects an operation force appliedto the operation handle (6) and an orientation (.theta.h) ofthe operation force, a robot arm (3), and an actuator(11). When the orientation (.theta.h) of the operation forceis detected to be within a predetermined angle rangewith respect to a preset advancing direction of theop-eration handle, the actuator (11) is controlled so as tomove the operation handle (6) along the advancingdi-rection (A) by employing only a component of theop-eration force along the advancing direction; and whenthe orientation (.theta.h) of the operation force is detectedto be outside the predetermined angle range, theactua-tor is controlled to move the operation handle (6) bythe operation force applied to the operation handle (6)and the orientation of the operation force.