Controlling a mobile robot using conventional control devices requires skill and experience, and is not intuitive, especially in complex environments. For human-mobile robot cooperation, the direct-teaching method with impedance control has been used most frequently in complex environments. This thesis proposes a new direct-teaching method for a mobile robot utilizing variable impedance control. This includes analysis of user intention, which is changed by force and moment. A fuzzy inference technique is proposed in this thesis for identification of user intension. The direct teaching of a mobile robot based on variable impedance control through fuzzy inference is experimentally verified by comparing its efficiency to that of the conventional impedance control-based direct teaching of a mobile robot. Experimental data, such as the total time consumed, path error time, and the total energy used by the user, were recorded. The results showed that the efficiency of variable impedance control was increased.
