Enabling two finger virtual grasping on a single grasp 6-DOF interface, by using just one force sensor

摘要

In this paper, the authors to demonstrate a novel and simple method to enable two finger grasping with one force sensor. 6-DOF haptic interface and a force sensor were used to implement this technique. The haptic device controls the position and orientation of two haptic avatars inside the virtual environment (VE), while the user can control the distance between the avatars by applying force on the attached sensor. In this way the user can locate the object to be manipulated between the pointers. Thus, by adjusting his own grasping pressure, the user can grab and manipulate objects. The two haptic avatars location, orientation and the distance between them is controlled by two 6-DOF virtual couplings. This system allows the user to precisely adjust his grasping to slide or rotate the object while grasping. Contrary to other proposals, instead of using extra actuators to enable grasping, just a force sensor was attached to a desktop 6-DOF interface. We are aware that this configuration is asymmetrical. But, the results of the user's performance manipulation evaluation indicates that the user's manipulation performance was not negatively impacted by the lack of grasping force.