Development of a multifingered robotic human upper limb as an inverse haptic interface

Abstract

Developing haptic interfaces has gained importance recently due to the wide range of applications they may cover, including those which were though impossible until recently. Although many interfaces were developed in the recent years, multifingered robotic human upper limb as an inverse haptic interface was never addressed. The paper presents a novel anthropomorphous upper limb as an inverse haptic interface, named Gifu Haptic Interface. The interface is similar to the human upper limb, from shoulder to fingertips, in shape, dimensions, and motion ability, is totally nonportable, is completely safe, and allows a wide range of applications as master or as slave, in actual and virtual environments.