Project
| # | Title | Team Members | TA | Documents | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Robotic Manipulator with User Force-Feedback |
Noah Franceschini Sohan Patel |
Jason Paximadas | design_document1.pdf final_paper1.pdf photo1.jpg photo2.jpg presentation1.pptx proposal1.pdf |
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| Robotic Manipulator with User Force-Feedback Team Members: - Sohan Patel (sohankp2) - Noah Franceschini (nef3) **Problem** A common need in Industry, and especially in today's increasingly virtual world is to interact with objects where it may not be possible from a logistic or health standpoint to do so. We have robotic manipulators and virtual simulations, but there is still a huge gap between real life and these current solutions. In a setting where an object is hazardous and may be fragile, it is paramount to be able to control how much pressure one is applying to the object, and be able to adjust it quickly and in a way that feels natural. **Solution** We would like to make two devices that work together to solve this issue. We want to create a manipulator that mirrors the user's movements and can accurately communicate the amount of force being exerted back to the user. The user would wear a glove that can track each finger's movement independently and apply the force experienced by the manipulator back to the user's hand. This would allow the wearer to easily discern the amount of force they are applying to an object without actually touching it themselves. This both solves the issue of being able to quickly and easily feel the force they are applying, as well as increasing user immersion, as wearing a glove is much more natural than using a different control mechanism. It would also allow a user to differentiate between objects quickly, for example the feeling of a foam ball vs a solid one. **Subsystems** **Glove** This subsystem will be what the user actually wears, and will both track movements of each finger as well as apply the forces back to the wearer. It will need to support a wide range of resistance to motion, from light resistance as if one was squishing a foam ball, to being able to fully stop the fingers from moving Components: - Potentiometers or Flex sensors to determine the position of the user's fingers, will experiment with both - Small motors to provide the required resistance to the fingers, or arrest movement entirely. **Manipulator** This subsystem will be what interacts with the object and relays resistance encountered by it to the glove. The manipulator itself will be 3D printed from an inexpensive plastic such as PLA. Components: - Small servos modified with low resistance shunt resistors to allow us to measure current, this allows us to know how much resistance each finger is encountering. - 3D printed robot "hand" that has all the supporting structure needed to mount the electronics. **Controller** This is the brain of our project, it will be a microcontroller based device that can process the raw data coming from both the glove and manipulator, then facilitate the communication between the two. Components: - Microcontroller, ATmega328p or ATmega2560 - Stepper motor drivers - Drivers for the user force-feedback, in the form of a motor and controller combination that can support dynamically adjusting the amount of tension. **Criterion For Success** - Track each finger and have the robot mirror those movements - Measure the forces experienced by the manipulator - Apply those forces to the user's hand - Support resistance as well as stopping hand movement - The user should be able to differentiate between a force caused by a solid object, vs one generated by a soft object compressing. The glove should not try and stop all movement in the latter case. - Low latency operation, the manipulator should not have a delay more than .5 to 1 second. |
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