Extending the Z-width of a Haptic device using acceleration feedback

Abstract

This paper proposes a nonlinear controller to extend the Z-width of a haptic device. A time-domain passivity analysis of the Z-width diagram leads to the new haptic controller, which employs acceleration feedback. The passivity condition for one degree of freedom (1DOF) haptic interaction with a virtual wall via the proposed controller is derived using passivity theory in the frequency domain. The perfomance of the proposed controller is validated experimentally on a PHANTOM Omni haptic device. The experiments illustrate that the new controller considerably extends the Z-witdh of the haptic interface. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.