6-DOF Deformable Joystick with High Elongation Strain Sensor

Abstract

Haptic device, as one of the human-machine interaction (HMI) device has started to play bigger roles in human lives nowadays. There are various applications and various types of haptic devices created for each one of them. Each of the haptic devices has their own characteristics and limitations. In this research, a new joystick design based on the utilization of strain sensors is developed. The new joystick device is aimed to combine the advantages from several existing haptic device to create a better HMI device. It also have to be able to show good performance in controlling 6 degree of freedom (DOF)movements. There have been few of joystick application which utilize the strain sensors as its core. Therefore, deformation analysis were done in order to find the most optimal jostick design. Then, finite element simulations (FEM) were also conducted to verify the proposed designs and improve it. After several improvements, a new joystick design is made into prototype using silicone rubber material. It is then tested in experiments to see its feasibility with the strain sensors. Through this process, the joystick design was constantly improved and the final design was created. The final joystick design is then evaluated through more experiments to compare the estimated 6-DOF motion with the ground truth provided by the PHANTOM device. It shows good performance and accuracy in motions with low to intermediate velocity. However, the accuracy drops as the motions becomes more rapid. Further research and analysis needs to be done on the sensors’ characteristics and the joystick material as well as properties in order to improve the performance further.