Smart mouse: 5-DOF haptic hand master using magneto-rheological fluid actuators

This paper is concerned with a haptic hand master intended to display force feedback at the fingertip of the human user. The haptic hand master, named 'Smart Mouse' has two significant differences from previous other hand masters: actuators and structure. Five passive actuators featured with magneto-rheological fluid are used to ensure the interface safety and the control stability. In order to eliminate the unnecessary reaction force and reduce muscular fatigue during operating, the mouse-like structure is adapted. Also, two assumptions are proposed for the simplicity of its kinematics and manufacturing; one is that the fingertips lies on a plane during grasping the objects, and the other is that the equilibrium point of the fingertip reaction forces is in the object. Due to these characteristics, the human hand operating the smart mouse has the kinematic configuration similar to a 5-DOF parallel manipulator.