Haptic Rendering and Human Stabilization in Presence of Structural Flexibility

Unstable behaviour is a significant problem in many haptic applications. The sampled-data nature and time delays induce complex dynamic behaviours in such systems. Structural flexibility may further reduce the stable domain of operation. This is illustrated via the systematic modeling and analysis of an impedance type haptic device with typical design elements such as closed-loop mechanisms and cable/capstan drives. The role of the operator in the dynamics of these systems is also demonstrated. The present work provide stability analysis, experimental validation and derive conditions for the range of parameters in which the operator can significantly contribute to the stabilization of the system