Multiple degree of freedom damped hand controls
AssigneeMassachusetts Institute of Technology
InventorMichael J. Rosen
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Abstract
Hand control devices are disclosed which provide for damping of vibrations and other unintended motion with three or more degrees of freedom. In one embodiment, a four degree of freedom damped hand control is illustrated, including a chamber filled with a viscous fluid, and a transmission which couples movement of a handle in the X, Y and Z directions and rotation in a .theta. direction about one of the axes to movements of one or more drag elements in the fluid. The hand control further includes a position-sensing and a rotation-sensing assembly for sensing the position of the handle relative to a reference frame and for generating electrical signals indicative of the position and angle.
Claims22
A hand control device capable of damping motions during operation by a user, the device comprising:
- a chamber filled with a viscous fluid;
- a transmission assembly comprising a first inner shaft coupled to a second outer shaft and concentric with each other, said first shaft having a handle to be held by the user and said second shaft being at least partially disposed within said fluid of said chamber;
- drag means coupled to said second shaft of said transmission assembly and disposed within said fluid for damping motion of said transmission assembly;
- and
- position-sensing means disposed about the transmission assembly for sensing the position of said transmission assembly relative to a defined reference frame and for generating electrical signals indicative of said position, said position-sensing means being activated by said first shaft during operation to generate electrical signals when said shaft is displaced from said reference frame.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.