Experimental Evaluation of a Haptic Interface for Endoscopic Simulation

The main goal of virtual reality based surgery simulators with haptic feedback is to provide an alternative to traditional training methods on animals, cadavers or real patients. Haptic feedback is a key feature for every surgery simulator for the training of hand-eye coordination. To address the need for higher fidelity and complexity in an endoscopic simulator, we have designed a new haptic interface, instrumented a clinical endoscope and integrated it with a software simulation for colonoscopy. The proposed haptic interface provides high translational force and rotational torque with combined electrical motors and passive brakes. This paper presents the evaluation of the haptic interface. Experimental analyzes are performed for characterization and performance evaluation. A model-based feed-forward control is implemented and the results show that the control successfully compensates for the device dynamics and nonlinearities such as Coulomb and viscous friction

Análisis de preinversión para el proyecto de un simulador de vuelo para el helicóptero MI 17 del Ejército de Colombia

Este trabajo describe el análisis de preinversión para la realización de un simulador de vuelo para el helicóptero MI 17, el cual está localizado en las instalaciones de la División de Aviación Asalto Aéreo, ubicado en la entrada No 5, del muelle del aeropuerto internacional el dorado en la ciudad de Bogotá, se establece con el fin de proveer a la Aviación del Ejercito de una herramienta de entrenamiento capaz de simular todas las características de vuelo que poseen los helicópteros MI 17, con esto evitar el envió de los oficiales de la Aviación del Ejercito a realizar capacitación en el simulador de vuelo que se encuentra en Rusia por sus altos costos, para esto se deben tener en cuenta factores económicos los cuales analizados mediante la construcción de escenarios, definirán la viabilidad de dicho proyecto

Análisis de preinversión para el proyecto de un simulador de vuelo para el helicóptero MI 17 del Ejército de Colombia

Este trabajo describe el análisis de preinversión para la realización de un simulador de vuelo para el helicóptero MI 17, el cual está localizado en las instalaciones de la División de Aviación Asalto Aéreo, ubicado en la entrada No 5, del muelle del aeropuerto internacional el dorado en la ciudad de Bogotá, se establece con el fin de proveer a la Aviación del Ejercito de una herramienta de entrenamiento capaz de simular todas las características de vuelo que poseen los helicópteros MI 17, con esto evitar el envió de los oficiales de la Aviación del Ejercito a realizar capacitación en el simulador de vuelo que se encuentra en Rusia por sus altos costos, para esto se deben tener en cuenta factores económicos los cuales analizados mediante la construcción de escenarios, definirán la viabilidad de dicho proyecto

Haptic-Enabled Handheld Mobile Robots: Design and Analysis

The Cellulo robots are small tangible robots that are designed to represent virtual interactive point-like objects that reside on a plane within carefully designed learning activities. In the context of these activities, our robots not only display autonomous motion and act as tangible interfaces, but are also usable as haptic devices in order to exploit, for instance, kinesthetic learning. In this article, we present the design and analysis of the haptic interaction module of the Cellulo robots. We first detail our hardware and controller design that is low-cost and versatile. Then, we describe the task-based experimental procedure to evaluate the robot's haptic abilities. We show that our robot is usable in most of the tested tasks and extract perceptive and manipulative guidelines for the design of haptic elements to be integrated in future learning activities. We conclude with limitations of the system and future work

Design of a 2 D.O.F. Haptic Device

Master'sMASTER OF ENGINEERIN

Mechanical linkage design for haptic rehabilitation and development of fine motor skills

Thousands of children and adults suffer from fine motor skill deficits due to developmental disabilities or brain trauma. In order to acquire or reclaim these precision motor movements, occupational therapists work closely with each patient to develop the muscle memory required for completing tasks such as handwriting or drawing. Although successful, occupational therapy is expensive and can be embarrassing or frustrating for children and adults. Recent advancements in tactile based robotic simulation, also known as haptics, have provided an opportunity to experience low cost, three dimensional, forced virtual object interaction. The work presented in this paper takes advantage of current haptic technology in order to create a device which facilitates traditional occupational therapy techniques. An inexpensive, attractive, and versatile solution for handwriting training and rehabilitation was developed using a mechanical linkage connected to the Novint Falcon haptic device. Several phases of design resulted in a mechanical linkage which was conceptualized and manufactured

Conception et validation d'un contrôleur optimisant la durée de vie et la consommation énergétique d'un actionneur magnétorhéologique

Les actionneurs magnétorhéologiques (MR) à glissement continu utilisent une combinaison d'une ou plusieurs sources de couple (p. ex. un moteur électrique rotatif) et d'un certain nombre d'embrayages magnétorhéologiques configurés en parallèle. Ces embrayages, dont le couple transmis est proportionnel au courant qui leur est fourni, agissent en quelque sorte à titre de filtres mécaniques en permettant un contrôle fin de l'effort transmis, et ce, peu importe l'impédance de la source d'effort. Alors que la plupart des travaux dans la littérature explorent l'impact des choix de conception sur certains indices de performance des actionneurs MR (tel que sa performance dynamique, sa consommation énergétique et la longévité du fluide MR), le présent document vise à explorer l'impact du choix de la stratégie de contrôle. Les travaux présentés dans ce mémoire sont basés sur une étude de cas pour une suspension active de siège de camion. Dans un premier temps, la caractérisation de l'actionneur permet de démontrer ses qualités intrinsèques pour une application de suspension active de siège dont une grande compacité, une grande transparence, une bande passante en force élevée (15 Hz) ainsi qu'une force maximale atteignant 1000 N sur tout le débattement du siège. Dans un deuxième temps, des expériences réalisées en laboratoire et sur route démontrent que cette suspension active peut, pour un profil de route raboteuse, réduire les vibrations transmises au conducteur de 66 % par rapport à une suspension passive pour ainsi respecter les limites d'exposition définies par la norme ISO 2631-1. Enfin, la dernière partie des travaux présentés ici détaille une stratégie de contrôle qui permet de réduire d'environ 20 % la consommation énergétique et d'allonger de 40 % la durée de vie du fluide de l'actionneur pour une utilisation dans un camion roulant sur une route de carrière de pierre

THE EFFECT OF HAPTIC INTERACTION AND LEARNER CONTROL ON STUDENT PERFORMANCE IN AN ONLINE DISTANCE EDUCATION COURSE

Today’s learners are taking advantage of a whole new world of multimedia and hypermedia experiences to gain understanding and construct knowledge. While at the same time, teachers and instructional designers are producing these experiences at rapid paces. Many angles of interactivity with digital content continue to be researched, as is the case with this study. The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is a significant difference in the performance of distance education students who exercise learner control interactivity effectively through a traditional input device versus students who exercise learner control interactivity through haptic input methods. This study asks three main questions about the relationship and potential impact touch input had on the interactivity sequence a learner chooses while participating in an online distance education course. Effects were measured by using criterion from logged assessments within one module of a distance education course. This study concludes that learner control sequence choices did have significant effects on learner outcomes. However, input method did not. The sequence that learners chose had positive effects on scores, the number of attempts it took to pass assessments, and the overall range of scores per assessment attempts. Touch input learners performed as well as traditional input learners, and summative first sequence learners outperformed all other learners. These findings support the beliefs that new input methods are not detrimental and that learner-controlled options while participating in digital online courses are valuable for learners, under certain conditions