A Portable Dextrous Master with Force Feedback

Abstract

Dextrous masters control robots and artificial environments through hand gestures. Commercial products have open-loop control, without force feedback to the operator. There is a need for portable systems that have force feedback, but are still sufficiently compact to be desktop. In this paper we discuss a prototype master providing force feedback for the Dataglove. The master structure and its actuator characteristics are presented first. Then a control model is given based on finger parameters and joint coupling. The glove calibration is subsequently discussed, taking into account the influence of the feedback structure. The experimental setup and initial results are presented last.