A haptic simulator for studying rest-to-rest reaching movements in dynamic environments

Abstract

We present a haptic simulation system with interchangeable physical constraints for studying skillful human movements. The unified haptic interface easily links different physical models with 2D and 3D static spatial constraints and graphical content related to the models. The system was tested on a variety of reaching tasks performed by human subjects. In the experiments, we analyzed motions based on data recorded by a history unit with a frequency of 100Hz. Theoretical and experimental kinematic profiles were compared for several cases of basic reaching rest-to- rest tasks, namely, line-constrained movement during transport of flexible object and parallel flexible object. Experimental patterns exhibit a good agreement with theoretical optimal control models based on jerk and force-change minimization criteria.