Design and analysis of haptic direct drive robot for virtual reality

This paper explores a new type of a 2-D (Direct-Drive Arm) human interface manipulator based on the virtual reality (VR) for mechanism design applications. A motion control of a two-link robot manipulator actuated by two joints is presented in this paper. The main components of the approach include user interface, software simulating Environment, and VR control system. The model of the VR system is built based on a haptic device behavior that enables the operator to feel the actual force feedback from the virtual environment just as she/he would from the real environment. A primary stabilizing controller is used to develop a haptic interface device where realistic simulations of the dynamic interaction forces between a human operator and the simulated virtual object/mechanism is required. The stability and performance of the system are studied and analysed based on the Nyquist stability criterion. Experiments on cut-ting virtual clay are used to validate the theoretical developments. It was shown that the effectiveness of the experimental and theoretical results are in good agreement and that the designed controller is confirmed by the experiment result.