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A novel controlled passive device is described which allows its end effector to be pushed only along a specified but arbitrary path. The force to move the end effector must be provided by an external source such as a human, gravity, or fluid flow. Possible applications include computer assisted surgery, haptic displays, exercise machines, and teleoperator masters. Advantages of the passive approach taken include safety from run away motors and freedom from supplying substantial amounts of energy to the device. This paper describes the concept and how it has been implemented and shows feasibility through initial experiments with simple control of a prototype system.
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Book et al. (1996) studied this question.