Haptic Workspace Control of the Humanoid Robot Arms

This paper presents a haptic workspace control approach to the arms of a humanoid robot by using the Omega 7 haptic device as the control input device. The haptic device with small workspace is used to control the robot with 2 arm end-effectors of large workspace. This paper also puts forward an approach for users to feel the haptic feedback force when the robot end-effectors touch the virtual boundary areas for the safety consideration. The haptic device can move further but the robot arm end-effector will stop and the haptic force generated is proportional to the travel distance of the haptic device end-effectors until reaching the maximum value of force permitted by the designer. Simulation experiments are designed and implemented to test the motion performance of the arm end-effectors under control of haptic device and the generated haptic force when the virtual boundary walls are reached by the arm end-effectors.