Adaptation of Haptic Interfaces for a LabVIEW-based System Dynamics Course

This paper describes the development of haptic paddle laboratory kits and associated National Instruments LabVIEW virtual instrumentation to support the adaptation of laboratory experiments for a required undergraduate system dynamics course at Rice University. The laboratory experiments use simple haptic interfaces, devices that allow the students to interact via the sense of touch with virtual environments. A clear benefit of this laboratory series is that students study the haptic paddle as a real electromechanical system in addition to using the haptic paddle as a tool to interact with virtual mechanical systems. The haptic paddle hardware has been modified to improve robustness, and the LabVIEW graphical programming language is used for data acquisition and control throughout the laboratory series.