HapticGiant: A Novel Very Large Kinesthetic Haptic Interface With Hierarchical Force Control

Area of Science:

• Virtual Reality
• Haptics
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Current virtual reality (VR) and haptic technologies aim to increase immersion.
• Kinesthetic haptic interfaces face challenges like limited workspaces and degrees of freedom.
• Existing interfaces often lack human arm kinematic matching.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present HapticGiant, a novel large-scale kinesthetic haptic interface.
• To enable natural user locomotion and full haptic feedback in VR.
• To closely match the properties of the human arm.

Main Methods:

• Developed a novel admittance-type force control scheme.
• Utilized hierarchical optimization for rendering kinematic chains and Cartesian admittances.
• Integrated a control scheme that accounts for system limitations (joint/Cartesian constraints, singularities).

Main Results:

• Demonstrated the effectiveness of the HapticGiant interface.
• Validated the performance of the novel admittance-type force control scheme.
• Showcased the ability to provide natural locomotion and full haptic feedback.

Conclusions:

• HapticGiant effectively addresses limitations of current kinesthetic haptic interfaces.
• The developed control scheme enhances VR immersion by matching human arm properties.
• This technology paves the way for more immersive virtual reality applications.