Haptico Robot is a robotic interface built on Arduino which can be remotely controlled by a user wearing the control glove and simulating the user's actions while providing haptic feedback (Touch Feelings) to the user.
In our project, we are building a robotic arm that will imitate the users hand motions and gestures, and will be providing real time ‘feelings’ to the user.
The user will be wearing a glove, set up with sensors and actuators, which will be continuously and wirelessly transmitting the users hand movements to the robot and receiving information such as surface texture of the object, temperature, hardness and other similar data from the interface to the user.
The main difference between Haptico robotic interface and the traditional robotic interface is the lack of touch feedback in the latter. In traditional systems, the user relies only on his vision and audio sense. The problem here is if the user misses a single visual or audio signal from the system, there is a chance of inducing an error in the process. The benefit of using touch feedback is that the body is continuously observing the touch sensations. The user’s body will be instantly alerted with even a slight feedback.
The current version of Haptico consists of a 3D printed arm that is actuated using servo motors. The flexing of the fingers is controlled by the rotation of the servo motors. Each finger has a force detecting sensor attached to the tip that calculates the intensity of force being applied on the fingertip.