Development of a haptic device “DELTA-4” using parallel link mechanism

Nowadays, several haptic devices are commercialized and becoming common not only in research fields but also in consumer use. In this paper, a new parallel link mechanism “DELTA-4” is proposed for a new haptic device within high quality force display capability and operability. DELTA-4 consists of 3 DOF of translational motions. The key features of DELTA-4 comparing with conventional parallel link mechanisms are: a redundant actuation, a wide working area and a small footprint. The prototype is equipped with a 3 DOF of rotation mechanism, which its center of motions is located on the wrist position of an operator. An evaluation test of force display was conducted on a prototype of DELTA-4 mechanism.