A body-powered prosthetic arm is mountable on a socket attached to the arm stump of a person. The prosthetic arm includes a base for attachment to the socket, a forearm section having a proximal end and a distal end, a terminal device such as a hook, anthropomorphic hand, etc. attached to the distal end of the forearm section for selectively opening or closing, and an elbow joint for joining the proximal end of the forearm section to the base, the elbow joint being pivotable to enable moving the forearm section upwardly or downwardly. Control straps and cables fitted on the person are responsive to body movements of the person for selectively locking the elbow joint to prevent it from pivoting while allowing the terminal device to open or close or locking the terminal device to prevent it from opening or closing while allowing the elbow joint to pivot.

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A human power amplifier includes an end-effector that is grasped by a human operator and applied to a load. The end-effector is suspended, via a line, from a take-up pulley, winch, or drum that is driven by an actuator to lift or lower the load. The end-effector includes a force sensor that measures the vertical force imposed on the end-effector by the operator and delivers a signal to a controller. The controller and actuator are structured in such a way that a predetermined percentage of the force necessary to lift or lower the load is applied by the actuator, with the remaining force being supplied by the operator. The load thus feels lighter to the operator, but the operator does not lose the sense of lifting against both the gravitation and inertial forces originating in the load.

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This thesis presents the Intelligent Gripper, a low cost instrumented robot finger pad which is equipped with an 8 x 8 tactile sensing array and a 2 x 2 proximity sensing grid. The complete system is composed of three modules. The capacitive tactile sensing array utilizes a dual strip construction to improve its robustness and simplicity, a technology initially developed by Sarcos Research Inc- The proximity network is based on infiared range sensing technology. The microprocessor based inter-face module gives the system intelligent capability. In order to reduce the noise and to improve the system modularity, all electric circuitry is localized. The modular architecture gives the system excellent portability. Following the comprehensive evaluation and characterization of the tactile sensing array and its associated electronic system, an experimental exploration to use the tactile sensor in transient contact force control is presented. It is found that using feedback fiom tactile sensor stabilizes the force control. However, the highest performance for transient force control is achieved from a combined feedback fiom tactile sensor and joint force sensor.

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