Multi-Fingered Haptic Interface Robot and its Application Systems

Haptic interfaces that represent force and tactile feeling have been utilized in the areas of telemanipulation, interaction with microscale and nanoscale phenomena, and medical training and evaluation, to mention only some applications. A multi-fingered haptic interface has greater potential for these kinds of applications than does a singlepoint haptic interface. We developed a five-fingered haptic interface robot named HIRO II, which consists of a hand with 15 dof and an arm with 6 dof. The following research issues are presented: the design method of mechanism, an interface control that takes the redundancy of the mechanism into consideration, physical simulation including frictional force and moment, a haptic rendering with a deformable object, the system architecture and two application systems--a future science encyclopedia and a VR breast palpation system.