Resistance-based joint constraint for a master robotic system

A force-reflective robotic system for translating a force of a slave robotic system to a master robotic system, comprising:

• a slave robotic system comprising a plurality of slave joints;
• and
• a master robotic system having a plurality of master brake joints, each corresponding to a respective one of the slave joints controllable by the master robotic system,
• wherein each master brake joint comprises a first braking component comprising an upper pair of compression disks and a lower pair of lower compression disks, and a second braking component comprising an upper compression disk situated between the upper pair of compression disks, and a lower compression disk situated between the lower pair of compression disks, the compression disks of the first braking component being rotatable relative to the disks of the second braking component, and an actuator disposed between the upper and lower pairs of compression disks of the first braking component, and configured to act on these to compress each of the upper and lower compression disks of the second braking component to generate a braking force in response to a control signal corresponding to a force sensed by the slave robotic system.

A method of translating a force of a slave robotic system to a master robotic system, wherein the master robotic system comprises a master brake joint corresponding to a slave joint of the slave robotic system, the method comprising:

• transmitting a force data signal from the slave robotic system to the master robotic system;
• and
• generating a braking force within the master brake joint corresponding to the force data signal,
• wherein the master brake joint comprises a first braking component, a second braking component, and an actuator, the first braking component comprising a pair of upper compression disks and a pair of lower compression disks, the second braking component comprising an upper compression disk situated between the pair of upper compression disks, and a lower compression disk situated between the pair of lower compression disks, the disks of the first braking component being rotatable relative to the disks of the second braking component, and
• wherein the actuator is disposed between the pair of upper and lower compression disks of the first braking component, and configured to generate the braking force by compressing each of the upper and lower compression disks of the second braking component.

A master robotic system for translating a force at a slave robotic system to the master robotic system, comprising:

• a plurality of robotic links;
• and
• a plurality of master brake joints rotatably coupling the plurality of robotic links, each master brake joint corresponding to a respective slave joint of a slave robotic system controllable by the master robotic system, wherein each master brake joint comprises:
• a first braking component coupled to a first robotic link of the plurality of robotic links, the first braking component comprising a pair of upper compression disks and a pair of lower compression disks;
• a second braking component, the second braking component comprising an upper compression disk disposed between the pair of upper compression disks and a lower compression disk disposed between the pair of lower compression disks coupled to a second robotic link of the plurality of robotic links, wherein the second braking component is configured to rotate relative to the first braking component;
• and
• an actuator disposed between the pair of upper compression disks and the pair of lower compression disks and configured to act upon the first braking component and the second braking component, to generate a braking force between the first braking component and the second braking component, in response to a control signal corresponding to a force sensed by the slave robotic system.