A study of the attenuation in the properties of haptic devices at the limit of the workspace

Abstract

In the context of the optimization in virtual reality systems involving a haptic device, this paper introduces a correction in the formula that defined the performance of the device near the boundary of its workspace. We introduce too corrections to an index based on the Manipulability which takes in account the frequency with which each zone of the application workspace is visited during the simulation process, in order to help the designer for obtaining the best positioning of the device respect to the virtual environment. We demonstrate the new formula studying three different tasks to be accomplished. Finally we look for this best positioning analyzing not only the displacement but the different orientations we can introduce in the virtual environment in order to take advantage of the best zones of the workspace in terms of Manipulability. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.