Development of a mouse-shaped haptic device with multiple finger inputs

In this paper, a mouse-shaped haptic device is proposed. The device solves conventional problems of previously developed devices such as structure and control complexity and operating difficulties. We adopted multiple finger inputs in order to carry out complicated tasks and in order to highly adapt to the environment. To develop the multi-fingered haptic device, we focused on anatomical knowledge and neurophysiology. Since there is a primacy of the visual information over somatic sensation, we believe the movable range of human fingers does not necessarily have to be completely satisfied, i.e. visual information can compensate for the difference between the displacement of the haptic device and that of the slave device in a master-slave system. We applied this feature to miniaturize and simplify the device. To confirm the usefulness of our developed device for a virtual reality system, we carried out three experiments: position control, familiarization and force feedback. The results show the effectiveness of the developed haptic device.