Six axis force feedback input device
First Claim
1. A robot manipulator coupled to an external device, said robot manipulator comprising:
- an actuator base with plural actuators and having a mechanism for receiving forces generated by said external device;
an end effector interactive with an operator;
a force feedback sensor coupled between said end effector and said actuator base for receiving said forces from said actuator base, converting said forces into feedback forces, and providing said feedback forces to said operator;
plural arms extending seriatim between said end effector and said actuator base; and
plural joints connected between pairs of adjacent arms;
wherein each one of said plural joints comprises a coupling device for mechanically coupling respective ones of said actuators to respective ones of said joints through intermediate ones of said joints, and wherein said coupling device is decoupled from said intermediate joints.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is a low friction, low inertia, six-axis force feedback input device comprising an arm with double-jointed, tendon-driven revolute joints, a decoupled tendon-driven wrist, and a base with encoders and motors. The input device functions as a master robot manipulator of a microsurgical teleoperated robot system including a slave robot manipulator coupled to an amplifier chassis, which is coupled to a control chassis, which is coupled to a workstation with a graphical user interface. The amplifier chassis is coupled to the motors of the master robot manipulator and the control chassis is coupled to the encoders of the master robot manipulator. A force feedback can be applied to the input device and can be generated from the slave robot to enable a user to operate the slave robot via the input device without physically viewing the slave robot. Also, the force feedback can be generated from the workstation to represent fictitious forces to constrain the input device'"'"'s control of the slave robot to be within imaginary predetermined boundaries.
157 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A robot manipulator coupled to an external device, said robot manipulator comprising:
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an actuator base with plural actuators and having a mechanism for receiving forces generated by said external device; an end effector interactive with an operator; a force feedback sensor coupled between said end effector and said actuator base for receiving said forces from said actuator base, converting said forces into feedback forces, and providing said feedback forces to said operator; plural arms extending seriatim between said end effector and said actuator base; and plural joints connected between pairs of adjacent arms; wherein each one of said plural joints comprises a coupling device for mechanically coupling respective ones of said actuators to respective ones of said joints through intermediate ones of said joints, and wherein said coupling device is decoupled from said intermediate joints. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A robot manipulator coupled to an external device, said robot manipulator comprising:
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an actuator base with plural actuators and having a mechanism for receiving forces generated by said external device; an end effector interactive with an operator; a force feedback sensor coupled between said end effector and said actuator base for receiving said forces from said actuator base, converting said forces into feedback forces, and providing said feedback forces to said operator; and a plurality of joints each coupled to said actuators, wherein each one of said joints comprises, an input link having at least an input keying drive component rotatable on an input axis, an output link coupled to said input link and having at least an output keying drive component rotatable on an output axis, wherein said input and output keying drive components are constrained to rotate about one another to define an instantaneous center of rotation, at least an input passing drive component rotatable on said input link and coupled to said actuator for receiving rotational motion, and at least an output passing drive component rotatable on said output link and coupled to said input passing drive component for receiving said rotational motion decoupled from said one joint. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A robot manipulator coupled to an external device, said robot manipulator comprising:
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an actuator base with plural actuators and having a mechanism for receiving forces generated by said external device; an end effector interactive with an operator; a force feedback sensor coupled between said end effector and said actuator base for receiving said forces from said actuator base, converting said forces into feedback forces, and providing said feedback forces to said operator; and a plurality of joints each coupled to said actuators, wherein each one of said joints comprises, an input link having an input keying pulley, an output link coupled to said input link and having an output keying pulley, a keying cable for rotatably coupling said input keying pulley to said output keying pulley, wherein said input and output keying pulleys are constrained to rotate about one another thereby defining an instantaneous center of rotation, at least one input idler pulley rotatable on said input link and coupled to said actuator for receiving rotational motion, at least one output idler pulley rotatable on said output link, and at least one passing cable coupled to each input and output idler pulley for transmitting rotational motion of said input idler pulley and said output idler pulley decoupled from said one joint. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification