No abstract

Force feedback from remote or virtual operations is needed for numerous technologies including robotics, teleoperated surgery, games and others. To address this need, the authors are investigating the use of electrorheological fluids (ERF) for their property to change the viscosity under electrical stimulation. This property offers the capability to produce feedback haptic devices that can be controlled in response to remote or virtual stiffness conditions. Forces applied at a robot endeffector due to a compliant environment can be reflected to the user using such an ERF device where a change in the system viscosity in proportion to the force to be transmitted. This paper describes the analytical modeling and experiments that are currently underway to develop an ERF based force feedback element.

No abstract

In this project, Rutgers University has teamed with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to pursue the development and demonstration of a novel haptic interfacing capability called MEMICA (remote MEchanical MIrroring using Controlled stiffness and Actuators). MEMICA is intended to provide human operators intuitive and interactive feeling of the stiffness and forces at remote or virtual sites in support of space, medical, underwater, virtual reality, military and field robots performing dexterous manipulation operations. The key aspect of the MEMICA system is a miniature Electrically Controlled Stiffness (ECS) element that mirrors the stiffness at remote/virtual sites. The ECS elements make use of Electro-Rheological Fluid (ERF), which is an Electro-Active Polymer (EAP), to achieve this feeling of stiffness. Forces applied at the robot end-effector due to a compliant environment will be reflected to the user by this ERF device where a change in the system viscosity will occur proportionally to the force to be transmitted. This paper describes the analytical modeling and experiments that are currently underway to develop an ERF based force feedback element.

In this paper a novel haptic interface is presented to enable human-operators to "feel" and intuitively mirror the stiffness/forces at remote/virtual sites enabling control of robots as human-surrogates. The proposed haptic interface is intended to provide human operators intuitive feeling of the stiffness and forces at remote or virtual sites in support of space robots performing dexterous manipulation tasks (such as operating a wrench or a drill). Remote applications are referred to the control of actual robots whereas virtual applications are referred to simulated operations. The developed haptic interface will be applicable to IVA operated robotic EVA tasks to enhance human performance, extend crew capability and assure crew safety. The novel device that is presented here employs Electro-rheological Fluids (ERF), which are electroactive polymers that change their viscosity when electrically stimulated.