Development of a wearable force feedback device with a pneumatic artificial muscle and MR brakes and its application to AR space

Abstract

The desktop type force feedback device restricts the human’s motion because the human must sit on a chair while the device is rendering force. However, a wearable force feedback devices lets us dynamically interact with virtual objects while moving in virtual space. We have developed a wearable 1-DOF force feedback device with pneumatic artificial muscles and magnetorheological (MR) brake. This device shows quick response, lightweight and high power density by these actuators. However, the previous device had problems that this device tilted and operator was difficult to find virtual objects by any part. In this paper, we redesign this device to reduce the weight difference between the left and right of an upper arm part and add a handle that means a marker for rendering force. Next, basic property of the proposed device is measured. Lastly, the proposed device is applied to augmented reality (AR) space.