Design of a six degrees of freedom haptic device

From the open-loop tele-operator systems of 1950’s to the modern kinesthetic training and surgery support setups, haptic systems took a long way of evolution. Application areas ranging from minimally invasive surgery to space training systems for astronauts, still there is a large room for improvements. The vast areas of emerging applications put a number of demands on haptic interfaces. Fidelity, large workspace and high force/torque capacity are among those demands. The thesis concentrates on the design of a haptic master arm. The mechanical system with an analysis of dynamics properties, electronic hardware, algorithms for forward and inverse kinematics and software for the integration of sensors and actuators are developed to create an infrastructure for haptic interaction. Though the major design criteria applied in this design are a large workspace and high force/torque capacity, dynamics compensation techniques are also discussed as part of the developed infrastructure. The main focus of the thesis is the design of this hardware and software base for haptic applications rather than the design of haptic control algorithms. A survey on haptic interfaces and master arm design criteria is presented firstly. A set of specifications for the master arm is determined for a general and multipurpose yet ergonomic use. Newton-Euler based simulation techniques are employed for the component selection. Sensors and controller hardware are selected according to the demands of the haptic control problem. Dynamics compensation techniques for the designed manipulator are considered and tested in simulation. Finally the designed master arm is assembled and electrically integrated