IMPEDANCE SENSING MECHANISM FOR A NEW MINIATURE HAPTIC ACTUATOR BASED ON MR FLUIDS

Tae-Heon Yang, Semin Ryu, Sang-Youn Kim, Jeong-Hoi Koo, Dong-Soo Kwon

Abstract

Previously, we successfully developed a new miniature haptic actuator based on MR fluids, designed to convey realistic and various kinaesthetic sensations to users in small electronic devices. The haptic sensation, which is generated in the form of resistive force, should vary accord-ing to user’s press for demonstrating its real-world haptic application. Thus, a sensing method for gauging the pressed depth by users should be integrated into the proposed actua-tor. To determine the pressed depth of the MR actuator, this study proposes an impedance sensing mechanism for meas-uring the impedance change of the solenoid coil embedded in the actuator in the form of voltages to estimate the pressed depth. The sensing capability of the proposed sens-ing mechanism was evaluated. The results show that the sensitivity of the proposed impedance sensing method is sufficient to regulate the output resistive force over a small stroke range of the actuator.

Keywords

MR actuator, impedance sensing, haptic, miniature

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DOI

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IMEKO TC

TC17 - Measurement in Robotics

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