Abstract
The newly developed side-faced-type multi-fingered haptic interface, consisting of a five-fingered haptic hand and an arm, can presents three directional forces at a user's five fingertips. By locating the interface on the side of the user's body, the interface allows the user to grasp and manipulate a small virtual object by his/her multiple fingers. However, there is the risk that the user's hand and the haptic hand will collide while the user is manipulating the interface. In this paper, we develop the control system to realize the interference avoidance between the user's hand and the haptic hand, and we presents the experimental results of the control system, which show the validity and the great potential of the side-faced-type multi-fingered haptic interface. Further, we also present the discussion about the applicability of the side-faced-type multi-fingered haptic interface.
