Abstract: Although traditional position-controlled industrial robots can be competent for most assembly tasks, they cannot complete complex tasks that frequently interact with the external environment. The current research on exoskeleton robots also has problems such as excessive inertia of exoskeleton robots, poor system integration and difficult human–computer interaction control. To solve these problems, this paper independently develops a tendon driving robotic system composed of a tendon driving robotic arm and an upper limb exoskeleton, and studies its control technology. First, the robot system is selected, configured, and constructed. Second, the kinematics of the robot is analyzed, and then the dynamics are studied, and the parameter identification experiment of single degree of freedom is completed. Finally, the research on zero-force control and impedance control of the robot has effectively improved the robot’s human–machine integration ability, ensured the flexibility and compliance in the process of human–computer interaction. The compliant control problem expands the usage scenarios and application scope of robots and contributes to the realization of complex operations of this group of robots in unstructured environments.

Key words: Tendon bionic drive robot , · Upper limb exoskeleton robot , · Dynamic parameter identification , · Zero force control , · Impedance control