HERO GLOVE Haptic Exoskeletal Robot Operator A Major Qualifying Project Submitted to the Faculty of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelors of Science in Robotics Engineering Computer Science Mechanical Engineering Electrical & Computer Engineering By: _________________ __________________ ________________ _________________ Alexander Tri Khuu Peerapat Saraj Caracappa Luxsuwong Pirasmepulkul Project Advisors: Professor Cagdas Onal Professor William Michalson Date: April 28th, 2016 This report represents the work of a WPI undergraduate student submitted to the faculty as evidence of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its web site without editorial or peer review. For more information about the projects program at WPI, see http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Projects. Abstract Non-repetitive manipulation tasks that are easy for humans to perform are difficult for autonomous robots to execute. The Haptic Exoskeletal Robot Operator (HERO) Glove is a system designed for users to remotely control robot manipulators whilst providing sensory feedback to the user. This realistic haptic feedback is achieved through the use of toroidal air- filled actuators that stiffen up around the user’s fingers. Tactile sensor data is sent from the robot to the HERO Glove, where it is used to vary the pressure in the toroidal actuators to simulate the sense of touch. Curvature sensors and inertial measurement units are used to capture the glove’s pose to control the robot. Acknowledgements The successful outcome of this MQP, the HERO Glove, was the result of the genuine care, guidance, and help that many individuals have given us over the one-year length of the project. Without them, the HERO Glove would not be where it is today. We would like to sincerely thank the many people who helped us through this project and contributed to its success. First and foremost, we would like to thank our advisors, Professor Cagdas Onal and Professor William Michalson, for seeing the potential in us and our idea when we first proposed the project idea, and genuine interest in pushing us towards success throughout the entire school year. They have taught us both the technical know-how of the various aspects of robotics as well as the team dynamic skills necessary to manage such a multi-faceted engineering project. They have allowed us the freedom to experiment with many ideas we came up with, and at the same time guiding us forward to be on track with our project objectives. We have learned so much from this project. Thank you very much professor! We would also like to thank Ming Luo, our PhD student advisor, who was always there to provide help for us and attending every weekly meeting throughout the school year. We were able to learn a lot from his research in novel soft-robotics design and control technology, which contributed significantly to our project. Furthermore, we would like to thank Selim Ozel, Yesegey Batu Sipka, and other researchers of the WPI Soft Robotics Lab, for their help in numerous soft sensing design. We express our thank Leanne Darras and Ashley Trahan from Advanced Circuits for their generous sponsorship of printed circuit boards that were necessary in our project to package all the custom designed electronic components into such a compact wearable haptic controller design. We would also like to thank you Dr. David Schneider from Cornell University Systems Engineering program and the Intel-Cornell Cup competition for their project feedback, financial help, and donation of electronic components crucial to our system design. Lastly, we would like to thank Joe St. Germain of the WPI Robotics Engineering program for all the help he has provided us from the very first conception of our project. Without his support, guidance, and technical help, our project would not be where it is today. Thank you very much! Table of Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 4 2 Background ............................................................................................................................. 6 2.1 Teleoperation .................................................................................................................... 6 2.1.1 Applications of Teleoperation................................................................................... 7 2.1.2 Available Teleoperation Systems ............................................................................. 8 2.1.3 Problems with Teleoperation .................................................................................... 9 2.2 Haptic Feedback ............................................................................................................... 9 2.3 Soft Robotics .................................................................................................................. 10 2.3.1 Soft Actuation ......................................................................................................... 10 2.3.2 Soft Sensing ............................................................................................................ 11 2.3.3 Why Soft Robotics is a Viable Solution ................................................................. 11 2.4 Gap Analysis .................................................................................................................. 11 2.4.1 Finger Joint Measurement....................................................................................... 12 2.4.2 Hand Position Tracking .......................................................................................... 12 2.4.3 Haptic Feedback...................................................................................................... 13 2.4.4 HERO Glove to Robot Communication ................................................................. 15 3 Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 16 3.1 Objective ........................................................................................................................ 16 3.2 System Requirements ..................................................................................................... 16 3.2.1 Needs Description ................................................................................................... 16 3.2.2 Acronym Description .............................................................................................. 16 3.2.3 Functional System Requirements Table ................................................................. 17 3.2.4 Ilities Assessment.................................................................................................... 19 3.3 System Design Overview ............................................................................................... 21 3.4 HERO Glove .................................................................................................................. 22 3.4.1 High Level Glove Assembly ................................................................................... 22 3.4.2 User Hand and Arm Gesture Measurement ............................................................ 32 3.4.3 Haptic Feedback...................................................................................................... 37 3.4.4 Solenoid Valve Manifold Specifications ................................................................ 42 3.4.5 Solenoid Valve Drive Circuitry .............................................................................. 42 3.4.6 Solenoid Valve Control Program ............................................................................ 44 3.5 Glove - Robot Communication ...................................................................................... 44 3.5.1 Glove to Robot ........................................................................................................ 44 3.5.2 Robot Force Sensing ............................................................................................... 45 3.5.3 Robot to Glove ........................................................................................................ 50 3.6 User Performance Evaluation......................................................................................... 51 3.6.1 Scenario A ............................................................................................................... 52 3.6.2 Scenario B ............................................................................................................... 52 4 Results ................................................................................................................................... 53 4.1 Curvature Sensor Performance....................................................................................... 53 4.2 Position Tracking Performance ...................................................................................... 56 4.3 Glove-Robot Communication ........................................................................................ 57 4.4 Haptic Feedback ............................................................................................................. 58 4.5 User Experience ............................................................................................................. 61 5 Recommendations ................................................................................................................