Joystick System Research Articles

Rancang Bangun Lengan Robot Berbasis Arduino Nano

Technological advances in the Industrial Revolution 4.0 era have had a big impact, especially in the industrial sector with the emergence of automatic robots which help increase efficiency and productivity. This research discusses the design of an Arduino Nano-based robot arm that is controlled using a joystick system. The objective of this research is to establish a robotic arm mechanical system that is responsive to the movement of the joystick and sevo motor as a driver of the closed feedback system and to identify the parameters for the success of the hard ware and software system in moving objects. The research stages used involve design analysis, device assembly, and system programming. The research results show that the developed robot arm is able to effectively move objects with success parameters including the type of shape and physical structure of the object being lifted. This research found that objects with simple shapes such as blocks have a higher level of ease of lifting, while soft physical structures also influence ease of lifting.

Linear Actuators in a Haptic Feedback Joystick System for Electric Vehicles

Several strategies for navigation in unfamiliar environments have been explored, notably leveraging advanced sensors and control algorithms for obstacle recognition in autonomous vehicles. This study introduces a novel approach featuring a redesigned joystick equipped with stepper motors and linear drives, facilitating WiFi communication with a four-wheel omnidirectional electric vehicle. The system’s drive units integrated into the joystick and the encompassing control algorithms are thoroughly examined, including analysis of stick deflection measurement and inter-component communication within the joystick assembly. Unlike conventional setups in which the joystick is tilted by the operator, two independent linear drives are employed to generate ample tensile force, effectively “overpowering” the operator’s input. Running on a Raspberry Pi, the software utilizes Python programming to enable joystick tilt control and to transmit orientation and axis deflection data to an Arduino unit. A fundamental haptic effect is achieved by elevating the minimum pressure required to deflect the joystick rod. Test measurements encompass detection of obstacles along the primary directions perpendicular to the electric vehicle’s trajectory, determination of the maximum achievable speed, and evaluation of the joystick’s maximum operational range within an illuminated environment.

Modeling and control of helicopter flight control system with a controllable Semi-rotary fluid viscous damper

To improve the handling comfort of Helicopter Flight Control System (HFCS), an adaptive particle swarm optimization optimized variable universe fuzzy proportional-integral-derivative (APSO-VUFPID) strategy for damping force control is proposed. First of all, by the results of the controllable semi-rotary fluid viscous damper (CSFVD) mechanical tests, a hyperbolic tangent model is developed. Afterwards, an equivalent model of HFCS is established. In the next part, aiming at improving the vibration suppression performance of the joystick system, an APSO-VUFPID is proposed to generate the desired damping force in real-time. Finally, numerical simulation and experimental tests are carried out to verify the vibration reduction effect of the proposed APSO-VUFPID method with respect to passive, proportional-integral-derivative (PID), adaptive particle swarm optimization optimized proportional-integral-derivative (APSO-PID) and adaptive particle swarm optimization optimized fuzzy proportional-integral-derivative (APSO-FPID) methods. The results show that the hyperbolic tangent model can accurately describe the nonlinear mechanical characteristics of the CSFVD. Moreover, under the proposed APSO-VUFPID control method, the amplitude of acceleration and velocity of the joystick system are smaller than those obtained from passive, PID, APSO-PID and APSO-FPID methods. Therefore, the proposed APSO-VUFPID controller has better handling comfort compared to passive, PID, APSO-PID and APSO-FPID controllers and can be employed in real applications.

Driving Performance of Adaptive Driving Controls using Drive-by-Wire Technology for People with Disabilities

Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate high technology adaptive driving controls, such as mini steering wheel-lever system and joystick system, for the people with physical disabilities in the driving simulator. Background: The drivers with severe physical disabilities have problems in operation of the motor vehicle because of reduced muscle strength and limited range of motion. Therefore, if the remote control system with driver-by-wire technology is used for adaptive driving controls for people with physical limitations, the disabled people can improve their quality of life by driving a motor vehicle. Method: We developed the remotely controlled driving simulator with drive-by-wire technology, e.g., mini steering wheel-lever system and joystick system, in order to evaluate driving performance in a safe environment for people with severe physical disabilities. STISim Drive 3 software was used for driving test and the customized Labview program was used in order to control the servomotors and the adaptive driving devices. Thirty subjects participated in the study to evaluate driving performance associated with three different driving controls: conventional driving control, mini steering wheel-lever controls and joystick controls. We analyzed the driving performance in three different courses: straight lane course for acceleration and braking performance, a curved course for steering performance, and intersections for coupled performance. Results: The mini steering wheel-lever system and joystick system developed in this study showed no significant statistical difference (p >0.05) compared to the conventional driving system in the acceleration performance (specified speed travel time, average speed when passing on the right), steering performance (lane departure at the slow curved road, high-speed curved road and the intersection), and braking performance (brake reaction time). However, conventional driving system showed significant statistical difference (p 0.05). The subjects with physical disabilities showed a tendency of relatively slow acceleration (p 0.05) according to the characteristics of the subjects. Conclusion: The driving performance with mini steering wheel-lever system and joystick control system showed no significant statistical difference compared to conventional system in the driving simulator. Application: This study can be used to design primary controls with driver-by-wire technology for adaptive vehicle and to improve their community mobility for people with severe physical disabilities.

Control order and visuomotor strategy development for joystick-steered underground shuttle cars.

In this simulator-based study, we aimed to quantify performance differences between joystick steering systems using first-order and second-order control, which are used in underground coal mining shuttle cars. In addition, we conducted an exploratory analysis of how users of the more difficult, second-order system changed their behavior over time. Evidence from the visuomotor control literature suggests that higher-order control devices are not intuitive, which could pose a significant risk to underground mine personnel, equipment, and infrastructure. Thirty-six naive participants were randomly assigned to first- and second-order conditions and completed three experimental trials comprising sequences of 90 degrees turns in a virtual underground mine environment, with velocity held constant at 9 km/h(-1). Performance measures were lateral deviation, steering angle variability, high-frequency steering content, joystick activity, and cumulative time in collision with the virtual mine wall. The second-order control group exhibited significantly poorer performance for all outcome measures. In addition, a series of correlation analyses revealed that changes in strategy were evident in the second-order group but not the first-order group. Results were consistent with previous literature indicating poorer performance with higher-order control devices and caution against the adoption of the second-order joystick system for underground shuttle cars. Low-cost, portable simulation platforms may provide an effective basis for operator training and recruitment.

1P1-A03 力覚呈示機能を有する舌用入力デバイスの基本設計(福祉ロボティクス・メカトロニクス(2))

This paper describes basic structure of a novel joystick system operated by tongue. This system is designed to give the force feedback to the user during interaction with the environment. The elastic plates adjust the supporting stiffness of the stick. Through this function, this system can give the user the different reactive forces according to the contact situation between the controlled device such as robot hand and the environment. We fabricated a prototype system and examined basic performances of proposed mechanism.

The nature of arm movement in children with cerebral palsy when using computer-generated exercise games

Purpose: To compare upper limb kinematics of children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP) using a passive rehabilitation joystick with those of adults and able-bodied children, to better understand the design requirements of computer-based rehabilitation devices. Method: A blocked comparative study involving seven children with spastic CP, nine able-bodied adults and nine able-bodied children, using a joystick system to play a computer game whilst the kinematics of their upper limb were recorded. The translational kinematics of the joystick’s end point and the participant’s shoulder movement (protraction/retraction) and elbow rotational kinematics (flexion/extension) were analysed for each group. Results: Children with spastic CP matched their able-bodied peers in the time taken to complete the computer task, but this was due to a failure to adhere to the task instructions of travelling along a prescribed straight line when moving between targets. The spastic CP group took longer to initiate the first movement, which showed jerkier trajectories and demonstrated qualitatively different movement patterns when using the joystick, with shoulder movements that were significantly of greater magnitude than the able-bodied participants. Conclusions: Children with spastic CP generate large shoulder and hence trunk movements when using a joystick to undertake computer-generated arm exercises. This finding has implications for the development and use of assistive technologies to encourage exercise and the instructions given to users of such systems.Implications for RehabilitationA kinematic analysis of upper limb function of children with CP when using joystick devices is presented.Children with CP may use upper body movements to compensate for limitations in voluntary shoulder and elbow movements when undertaking computer games designed to encourage the practice of arm movement.The design of rehabilitative computer exercise systems should consider movement of the torso/shoulder as it may have implications for the quality of therapy in the rehabilitation of the upper limb in children with CP.

Teleoperation of a Mobile Robot Using a Force-Reflection Joystick With Sensing Mechanism of Rotating Magnetic Field

Operators' intelligent and skillful decisions are necessary for the teleoperation of a mobile robot when there are many scattered obstacles. Among the sensors used for environment recognition, the camera is the most popular and powerful. However, there are several limitations in the camera-based teleoperation of a mobile robot. For example, shadowed and curved areas cannot be viewed using a narrow view-angle camera, especially in an environment with bad illumination and several obstacles. Therefore, it is necessary to have other sensory information for reliable teleoperations. In this study, 16 ultrasonic sensors are attached around a mobile robot in a ring pattern to measure the distances to the obstacles and a collision vector is introduced as a new tool for obstacle avoidance, which is defined as the normal vector from an obstacle to the mobile robot. Based on this collision vector, a virtual reflection force is generated to avoid the obstacles and then the reflection force is transferred to the operator who is holding the joystick used to control the mobile robot. Based on this reflection force, the operator can control the mobile robot more smoothly and safely. For this bidirectional teleoperation, a master joystick system using a two-axis hall sensor was designed to eliminate the nonlinear region, which exists in a general joystick with two motors and potentiometers. The effectiveness of the collision vector and force-reflection joystick is verified by comparing two vision-based teleoperation experiments, with and without force reflection.

A pilot study evaluating use of a computer-assisted neurorehabilitation platform for upper-extremity stroke assessment

BackgroundThere is a need to develop cost-effective, sensitive stroke assessment instruments. One approach is examining kinematic measures derived from goal-directed tasks, which can potentially be sensitive to the subtle changes in the stroke rehabilitation process. This paper presents the findings from a pilot study that uses a computer-assisted neurorehabilitation platform, interfaced with a conventional force-reflecting joystick, to examine the assessment capability of the system by various types of goal-directed tasks.MethodsBoth stroke subjects with hemiparesis and able-bodied subjects used the force-reflecting joystick to complete a suite of goal-directed tasks under various task settings. Kinematic metrics, developed for specific types of goal-directed tasks, were used to assess various aspects of upper-extremity motor performance across subjects.ResultsA number of metrics based on kinematic performance were able to differentiate subjects with different impairment levels, with metrics associated with accuracy, steadiness and speed consistency showing the best capability. Significant differences were also shown on these metrics between various force field settings.ConclusionThe results support the potential of using UniTherapy software with a conventional joystick system as an upper-extremity assessment instrument. We demonstrated the ability of using various types of goal-directed tasks to distinguish between subjects with different impairment levels. In addition, we were able to show that different force fields have a significant effect on the performance across subjects with different impairment levels in the trajectory tracking task. These results provide motivation for studies with a larger sample size that can more completely span the impairment space, and can use insights presented here to refine considerations of various task settings so as to generalize and extend our conclusions.

1P1-M01 片手による自動車の運転を支援するジョイスティックシステム

A joystick car drive system for wheelchair users is presented in this paper. The system enables handicapped person to drive a car with a single hand. The joystick operation in back and forth direction controls acceleration or deceleration of a car while that in left and right direction rotates a steering wheel to turn. The initial prototype of a steering wheel drive system is designed and built. The prototype is tested on a cockpit simulator by wheelchair users to investigate the realizability of the proposed joystick system.

Design of force-reflection joystick system for VR-based simulation

In this paper, we develop a force-reflection joystick system for VR-based simula- tion, including a 2-DOF joystick and the related software. The developed force-reflection joystick, as a kind of haptic device, provides two-way communication in both position and force, and is very helpful for the user to interact with a simulation system. By con- sidering the main factors in designing a force-reflection joystick, we build the joystick to be with the bandwidth, precision, and output torque comparable to the advanced com- mercial joystick. We also perform workspace analysis, system identification, and system modeling to better connect the joystick with the simulation system. To make it suitable for various applications, the software is developed to generate virtual motion constraints, so that the joystick is confined to operate within the workspace that corresponds to task requirements. In other words, the joystick may behave like a manipulative device spe- cific for the given task. For demonstration, in experiments, we use the developed joy- stick system to emulate a virtual manual gearshift system.

Bond Graph Based Approach to Passive Teleoperation of a Hydraulic Backhoe

Human operated, hydraulic actuated machines are widely used in many high-power applications. Improving productivity, safety and task quality (e.g., haptic feedback in a teleoperated scenario) has been the focus of past research. For robotic systems that interact with the physical environments, passivity is a useful property for ensuring safety and interaction stability. While passivity is a well utilized concept in electromechanical robotic systems, investigation of electrohydraulic control systems that enforce this passivity property are rare. This paper proposes and experimentally demonstrates a teleoperation control algorithm that renders a hydraulic backhoe/force feedback joystick system as a two-port, coordinated, passive machine. By fully accounting for the fluid compressibility, inertia dynamics and nonlinearity, coordination performance is much improved over a previous scheme in which the coordination control approximates the hydraulic system by its kinematic behavior. This is accomplished by a novel bond graph based three step design methodology: (1) energetically invariant transformation of the system into a pair of “shape” and “locked” subsystems; (2) inversion of the shape system bond graph to derive the coordination control law; (3) use of the locked system bond graph to derive an appropriate control law to achieve a target locked system dynamics while ensuring the passivity property of the coordinated system. The proposed passive control law has been experimentally verified for its bilateral energy transfer ability and performance enhancements.

Computer-assisted enrichment for zoo-housed orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus)

AbstractThe study of environmental enrichment has identified a variety of effective forms of enrichment, but there are widespread problems associated with their use. Few forms of enrichment are cognitively challenging, and even the most effective often result in rapid habituation. This study examined the use of a computer-joystick system, designed to increase in complexity with learning, as a potential form of enrichment. Eight orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), housed in male/female pairs, were observed for 120 h during a baseline period and 120h when the computer-joystick apparatus was available. Data were collected in 1 h sessions using instantaneous group scan sampling with 30 s intervals. The orangutans spent 25.9% of the scans using the joystick system. One member of each pair monopolised the computer system: ‘high users’ spent 48.9% of scans using the joystick system compared with 2.9% by ‘low users’. Behavioural changes associated with the provision of the computer included increases in aggressive behaviour, anxiety-related behaviours, solitary play, contact with and proximity to a social partner, and decreases in feeding. The lack of habituation by the high users, both within and across sessions, indicates that computer-assisted tasks may be a useful form of environmental enrichment for orangutans. However, the significant increase in aggression indicates that this form of enrichment may be more suitable for singly caged animals, or that the provision of multiple apparatuses should be tested for the ability to eliminate potential competition over the device.

The Manual Control and the Automatic Control of the Navigational Depth of the Submarine

This paper discusses the difference between the manual control and the automatic control of the navigational depth and attitude angle of the submarine. Starting with the equations of the longitudinal motion of the submarine, the transfer functions and the characteristic equations are calculated for several cases. The conclusions are that the control system, in which the control surfaces are connected with a definite positive ratio, is the most practical and suitable for the automatic depth control system or the joystick system, and also that in the case of the two-man control, the stern operatar must be the main controller and be very skilful.