An Admittance Type Haptic Device: RML Glove

摘要

This paper presents the design and control of a newly developed five-fingered admittance haptic interface named RML-glove. This haptic device is a lightweight and portable actuator system that fits on a hand and adds a sense of touch to each finger of the user. With this system, the operator is able to feel the shape and size of virtual 3D objects or to control robots through force feedback. Each finger has a miniature linear actuator that can be individually controlled to provide the force feedback. An embedded lead screw mechanism makes it possible to provide force feedback from almost zero and up to 40 N to each finger. The interface consists of micro-motors, force sensitive sensors, lithium-ion battery, wireless RF module, and an ARM7 micro-controller board. Wireless communication with a robot or host PC is established via unlicensed bands of 2.4 GHz. This haptic device may be worn on the back of bare hand without any other intrusive hardware, which otherwise constrain the movement of the fingers.