Abstract
This study describes the main design and prototyping steps of a novel haptic device for cutaneous stimulus of a hand palm. This part of the hand is fundamental in several grasping and manipulation tasks, but is still less exploited in haptics applications than other parts of the hand, as for instance the fingertips. The proposed device has a parallel tendon-based mechanical structure and is actuated by three motors positioned on the hand’s back. The device is able to apply both normal and tangential forces and to render the contact with surfaces with different slopes. The end-effector can be easily changed to simulate the contact with different surface curvatures. The design is inspired by a smaller device previously developed for the fingertips; however, in the device presented in this study, there are significant differences due to the wider size, the different form-factor, and the structure of hand palm. The hand palm represents the support for the fingers and is connected to the arm through the wrist. The device has to be developed taking into account fingers’ and wrist’s motions, and this requirement constrains the number of actuators and the features of the transmission system. The larger size of the palm and the higher forces challenge the device from a structural point of view. Since tendons can apply only tensile forces, a spring-based support has been developed to keep the end-effector separated from the palm when the device is not actuated or when the force to be rendered is null. The study presents the main design guidelines and the main features of the proposed device. A prototype has been realized for the preliminary tests, and an application scenario with a VR environment is introduced.
Highlights
Nowadays technology is increasingly present in our everyday lives, and among the emerging technologies those oriented to the reproduction of tactile, kinesthetic, and skin sensations are getting interest in several application fields
Haptic devices with mobile and an orientable contact area such as those presented by Trinitatova et al (2019) and Trinitatova and Tsetserukou (2019) are closer to what we propose in this study for what concerns the design; in this study we want to investigate the possibility of reducing the footprint in the palm and the overall mechanical load on the hand through the use of cables for the transmission of forces
In this study, we will: 1) describes the haptic device for hand palm stimulation based on tendons, designed taking into account the physical/ anatomical features of the palm; 2) presents the design of interchangeable modules for simulations of different types of contact; 3) details the mechanical, mechatronics, and manufacturing aspects of the device, including the finite element method (FEM) analysis, hardware, and control description; and 4) presents a working prototype of the device with some preliminary applications
Summary
Nowadays technology is increasingly present in our everyday lives, and among the emerging technologies those oriented to the reproduction of tactile, kinesthetic, and skin sensations are getting interest in several application fields. In Son and Park (2018a) and Son and Park (2018b) two haptics gloves with several mechanical active points are designed and developed: the first uses small rigid links, while the second is tendon actuated The limit of these devices is the high number of actuators needed to reproduce haptic stimuli in an extended area as the human palm, for this reason the authors of Gollner et al (2012); Martínez et al (2014); Borja et al (2018) chose vibrotactile matrices in contact with the palm to reduce the clutter of mechanical actuators, reducing, the similarity between the desired stimulus and the transmitted one. In this study, we will: 1) describes the haptic device for hand palm stimulation based on tendons, designed taking into account the physical/ anatomical features of the palm; 2) presents the design of interchangeable modules for simulations of different types of contact; 3) details the mechanical, mechatronics, and manufacturing aspects of the device, including the finite element method (FEM) analysis, hardware, and control description; and 4) presents a working prototype of the device with some preliminary applications
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