Development of Active Polyhedron for Physical Human-Machine Interaction and its Application to CAD/CAM Operation

The goal of this research is a development of a new haptic interface realizing Physical Human-Machine Interaction. The new haptic interface termed Active Polyhedron is devised. Active Polyhedron can display force on multi-point, making this device realize operation to complex continuum. In this report, the active icosahedron, which is one of Active Polyhedron and pneumatically-driven, is developed. The active icosahedron consists of 30 pneumatic cylinders which have position sensor. In previous research, position-control algorithm and force-control algorithm were reported. Position-control algorithm computes positions of active icosahedron's apex based on displacements of link-length. Force-control algorithm computes output-forces on cylinder based on output-forces on apexes. Applying these algorithms, active icosahedron can realize input-position and output-force. We develop a new type of an application, which is 3D-CAD/CAM operation. In this application, an operator can perform advanced-design to generate commonly used CAD/CAM data, using the active icosahedron. At the same time, the operator feels stiffness of the model as if he touches to it. As a result, finer and more complex design is able to be performed.