Various Haptic Effects Based on Simultaneous Actuation of Motors and Brakes

In the virtual environment, force feedback to the human operator makes virtual experiences more realistic. To ensure the safe operation and enhance the haptic feeling, stability should be guaranteed. Both motors and brakes are commonly used for haptic devices. Motors can generate a torque in any direction, but they can make the system active during operation, thus leading to instability. Brakes can generate a torque only against their rotation, but they dissipate energy during operation, which makes the system intrinsically stable. Consequently, motors and brakes are complementing each other. In this research, a two degree-of-freedom (DOF) haptic device equipped with motors and brakes has been developed to provide better haptic effects. Each DOF is actuated by a pair of motor and brake. Modeling of the environment and the control method are needed to utilize both actuators. Among various haptic effects, contact with the virtual wall, representation of friction and representation of plastic deformation have been investigated extensively in this paper. It is shown that the hybrid haptic device is more suited to some applications than the motor-based haptic device.