Novel Haptic Device Using Jamming Principle for Providing Kinaesthetic Feedback in Glove-Based Control Interface
Novel Haptic Device Using Jamming Principle for Providing Kinaesthetic Feedback in Glove-Based Control Interface
Igor Zubrycki 0 1
Grzegorz Granosik 0 1
0 I. Zubrycki,
1 Research partially supported by the National Centre for Research and Development under grant No. PBS1/A3/8/2012 and by the Foundation for Polish Science under grant No. 132/UD/SKILLS/2015
This paper presents a new type of wearable haptic device which can augment a sensor glove in various tasks of telemanipulation. We present the details of its two alternative designs jamming tubes or jamming pads, and their control system. These devices use the jamming phenomena to change the stiffness of their elements and block the hand movement when a vacuum is applied. We present results of our experiments to measure static and dynamic changes in stiffness, which can be used to change the perception of grabbing hard or soft objects. The device, at its current state is capable of resisting forces of up to 7 N with 5 mm displacement and can simulate hardness up to the hardness of a rubber. However, time necessary for a complete change of stiffness is high (time constant 0.5 s); therefore, additional cutaneous interface was added in a form of small vibration motors. Finally, we show an application of the haptic interface in our teleoperation system to provide the
Haptic device; Haptics and haptic interfaces; Jamming; Soft robotics; Robot control interface; Human-robot interaction
-
operator with haptic feedback in a light weight and
simple form.
1 Introduction
Using one’s own hand to teleoperate a robot with a
multi-finger (dexterous) gripper can be very intuitive
for robot’s operator. However, if the operator receives
feedback about the state of grasping operation only
through visual or auditory channels, he can experience
sensory overload [
27
] and generally perform worse
than when receiving a kinaesthetic feedback [
7
]. This
can be especially important when teleoperating robots
in exploratory or rescue tasks, where mistakes in grasp
execution cannot be easily corrected and can lead to
mission failure.
While devices for kinaesthetic feedback for
grasping (e.g. CyberGrasp [
1
]) are available, they are not as
widespread as general control interfaces, because they
can be very costly (more than USD $10000) due to
their complicated mechatronic structure.
In our quest to develop an intuitive
teleoperation interface for controlling Schunk Dexterous Hand
(SDH-2) during search and rescue operations, we
investigated the use of simple haptic devices to inform
the operator about the state of grasping in prolonged
teleoperation. Such devices should be ergonomic,
lightweight and safe for the user. Also, they should
not introduce instability to the teleoperation system
with possible signal delays (stability of teleoperation
system as defined in [
17
]).
Our proposed solution uses jamming phenomena
for kinaesthetic feedback – described in detail in
Section 2.2. Jamming allows for change of stiffness
of material in flexible membrane, controlled by
pressure inside. By positioning an element with
changeable stiffness on hand palm, motion of fingers can
be blocked when the element is stiffened, providing
a sensation of grasping an object. We describe two
designs of such device, called jamming tubes and
jamming pads with additional cutaneous interface placed
on fingertips, and explain their controller.
We have conducted a series of experiments, to provide
answers to questions connected to the device’s design:
To choose appropriate filler material for the
jamming device, we have evaluated the range of stiffness
change for different materials, as well as maximum
reaction forces generated when flexing the element.
To evaluate the feasibility of using jamming for
haptics, we have conducted dynamic experiments,
where we measured the time necessary for stiffness
change, as well as the device’s behaviour when
experiencing step force change or pressure exerted by the
human finger.
Finally we explore how such a haptic device could
be integrated into a larger teleoperation interface for
controlling manipulator with dexterous gripper. We
discuss specification of such task and describe
integration of the device into previously developed ROS
based system [
34–36
].
Our idea of using jamming for kinaesthetic
feedback for grasping can be used as a simple way for
adding such ability to teleoperation interfaces or be a
basis for other haptic devices.
2 Related Work
Our haptic interface has a number of features
similar to those found in several types of haptic interfaces
described in journals, and available in commercial
applications.
They can be described as:
Glove Based A general review of glove based
interfaces is presented in [
5
]. Although, our interface is not
entirely glove based (there is an additional vision
system for measuring the hand’s position, orientation and
gestural control), it can directly acquire the flexion
information from all fingers a (...truncated)