Research & Design Of A Haptic Interface Based On Virtual Reality Technology

As one multi-discipline crossed technology emerging in the last half of the 20th century, Virtual Reality (VR) is becoming increasingly blooming and ubiquitous nowadays. It is not difficult to find its existance in various fields, such as engineering, education, medicine, military, art, entertainmen, etc.Traditionally, the research and applications of VR are limited in the field of graphical and audio displays. However, with the developments of computer science and robotic technology, the haptic interaction art comes into the focus of VR field across the world recently. Many institutions of developed countries have explored this area and even developed some commercial products. In contrast, the domestic state-of-art in VR, especially in haptic interaction, has a considerable gap compared to that abroad.In this thesis, above all, the concept and applications of haptic interaction in VR are introduced; the domestic and overseas state-of-art is described; the various methods and philosophies enabling the haptic display at present are discussed. Next, orienting to the virtual surgery, a 5-degree-of-freedom (5-DOF) haptic interface expected to fulfill the assumed kinematic and force-feedback reqirements is developed such that the configuration of a VR environment made up of graphical, audio, haptic displays, will become feasible to mimic the real surgeries in hospital vividly.The main part of this thesis is about the development of a 5-DOF haptic interface oriented to the virtual surgery. By and large, following works are concerned: the establishment of design philosophy and design goals, the selection of actuators and sensors, the brain storm of mechanical structure, the analysis via methods in robotics, the assembly and adjustment of 5-DOF device along with corresponding suggestions for improvement.