A comparative analysis of cable conduit series elastic actuators for realistic haptic rendering

Optimally designed wearable haptic devices have the potential to improve the quality of teleoperation and simulation systems through the creation of immersive experiences of touch. Though several metrics of haptic performance have been developed for assessing and improving these devices, there is yet to be one that captures the nuances of haptic realism and targets the assessment of highly nonlinear haptic devices. This thesis presents a novel metric for the assessment of haptic performance, intuitive tools for the optimization and comparison of haptic designs, and general design principles for two types of haptic device. Using the developed metric, novel Cable-Conduit Series Elastic Actuator (CC-SEA) type haptic devices and impedance type haptic devices are assessed and compared in terms of their ability to render a variety of virtual environments, under a variety of operator interaction conditions. It is shown that, assuming a stable system, the average CC-SEA type haptic device has comparable or better performance than that of the average impedance type device under relatively rough handling by the operator and when rendering high impedance virtual environmentsMechanical Engineerin