JP2017138651A - Force sense presentation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a force sense presentation apparatus which links a motion of a video image and a force sense to be presented in an operation part with high accuracy without requiring complicated control.SOLUTION: A force sense presentation apparatus comprises: an operation part 10 including a displacing portion 13 that is displaced by an operation of an operator; a displacement amount detection part 30 for detecting a displacement amount of the displacing portion; and a rotatable part which is rotated while being interlocked with a displacing action of the displacing portion. The force sense presentation device further comprises: a rotational resistance generation part 20 configured to impart a magnetic field of a strength corresponding to a magnitude of a supplied current to a magnetic viscous fluid encapsulated insides and impart rotational resistance corresponding to the magnitude of the current to the rotatable part; a control device 40 for supplying a current of a value determined based on correspondence information of a preset displacement amount and a current value and the displacement amount detected by the displacement amount detection part to the rotational resistance generation part; and a display device 50 for displaying a virtual object that is deformed in accordance with the displacement amount detected by the displacement amount detection part, in a virtual space.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a haptic device that presents a haptic of a virtual object displayed on a video to an operator, and more particularly to a haptic device that links an operator's operation and a video.

  This type of technology is disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, for example. The haptic device disclosed in these documents is displayed on the video based on the fingertip position information detected by the sensor in the operation unit, the preset virtual object position information, the virtual object shape information, and the like. The sense of force of the virtual object is presented to the operator's fingertip by an electric motor or the like.

JP 2008-217260 A Japanese Patent No. 5342354

  In the force sense presentation devices disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, a force sense is presented by an electric motor. However, when a force sense is presented using an electric motor, there is a problem that control of the motor becomes complicated. is there. There are several reasons why the control of the motor is complicated. For example, a precise force sense must be presented when the rotation speed of the electric motor is 0 rpm. That is, the electric motor is likely to cause hunting when a force is applied at a rotational speed of 0 rpm, and thus complicated control is required to prevent the occurrence of hunting. Further, since the electric motor has a large inertia, in order to present a force sense with excellent reality, a control for canceling the inertia is required, and the control is further complicated.

  In particular, when a virtual object's haptic sensation is presented on the operation unit by linking the virtual object image and the operation unit, it is required to link the motion of the image and the haptic presented on the operation unit with high accuracy. Therefore, when presenting a force sense using an electric motor, the control of the electric motor has to be complicated.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and relates to a force sense presentation device that presents a force sense of an object projected on a video to an operator, and the motion of the video without requiring complicated control. It is an object of the present invention to provide a force sense presentation device that can link a force sense presented in an operation unit with high accuracy.

  The force sense presentation device according to the present invention includes an operation unit having a displacement unit that is displaced by an operation of an operator, a displacement amount detection unit for detecting a displacement amount of the displacement unit, and a displacement operation of the displacement unit. A rotating portion that rotates and applies a magnetic field having a strength corresponding to the magnitude of the supplied current to the magnetorheological fluid enclosed therein, and the rotational resistance corresponding to the magnitude of the current is A rotation resistance generator configured to be applied to the rotation unit, a correspondence information between a preset displacement amount and a current value, and a current having a value determined based on the displacement amount detected by the displacement amount detection unit; And a display device that displays a virtual object that deforms according to the displacement detected by the displacement detector in a virtual space.

  According to the force sense presentation device having such a configuration, unlike the electric motor, the rotation resistance generating unit for presenting the force sense presents a stable reaction force (force sense) even when the rotation speed is near zero. In addition, since the inertia is small, it is possible to link the motion of the video and the force sense presented in the operation unit with high accuracy without requiring complicated control.

  Preferably, in the force sense presentation device having the above configuration, the operation unit includes a plurality of the displacement units, and the displacement amount detection unit is provided for each displacement unit, and the rotation resistance generation unit Is provided for each displacement unit, and the control device is configured based on the preset correspondence information between the displacement amount and the current value for each displacement unit and the displacement amount detected by each displacement amount detection unit. A current having a fixed value is supplied to each of the rotational resistance generation units, and the display device deforms a portion corresponding to each displacement unit according to a displacement amount detected by each displacement amount detection unit. It is assumed that a virtual object is displayed in a virtual space.

  Preferably, the display device displays a virtual hand that deforms a part corresponding to each displacement unit in the virtual space together with the virtual object according to a displacement amount detected by each displacement amount detection unit. To do.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to link a motion of a video and a force sense presented in an operation unit with high accuracy without requiring complicated control.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of a force sense presentation apparatus. It is a figure which shows the operation part of a force sense presentation apparatus. It is a figure which shows a displacement part and a link mechanism. It is a figure which shows a rotational resistance generation part, a displacement amount detection part, etc. It is sectional drawing which shows the structural example of a rotation resistance generation | occurrence | production part. It is a graph which shows the example of the correspondence information of the displacement amount and electric current value which are set for every virtual object. It is a figure which shows a mode that the force sense presentation apparatus is used. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the virtual object (tennis ball) and virtual hand which are displayed on the display apparatus of a force sense presentation apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the virtual object (water balloon) and virtual hand which are displayed on the display apparatus of a force sense presentation apparatus.

  Hereinafter, a force sense presentation device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the force sense presentation device according to the present embodiment includes an operation unit 10, a rotation resistance generation unit 20, a displacement detection unit 30, a control device 40, a display device 50, and the like. In this force sense presentation device, the operator can artificially grasp the virtual object displayed on the display device 50 by operating the displacement unit 13 of the operation unit 10, and the force sense when the virtual object is grasped. You can experience (feel of reaction force etc.). Hereinafter, each part will be described in detail.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the operation unit 10 includes a head unit 11, a leg unit 12, a displacement unit 13, and the like.

  The head portion 11 is formed of a substantially spherical housing provided on the leg portion 12, and has a rectangular first opening 11a and second opening 11b. The first opening 11a is formed at a position corresponding to the index finger from the index finger of the operator's hand, and one second opening 11b is formed at a position corresponding to the operator's thumb.

  The displacement unit 13 is displaced by the operation of the operator's finger, and five displacement units 13 are provided corresponding to all the fingers of the operator. The four displacement portions 13 corresponding to the operator's index finger to the little finger are disposed in the first opening 11 a of the head portion 11, and the displacement portion 13 corresponding to the operator's thumb is the second opening of the head portion 11. 11b. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, each displacement portion 13 is configured by a curved plate whose base portion is rotatably supported by the support shaft 14. The rotation resistance generator 20 is connected to the rotation shaft 21. Each displacement part 13 can be rotated within a predetermined range (for example, within 30 degrees). In the present embodiment, the displacement portion 13 is not provided with a return spring or the like, and after being pushed in, it is returned to the original position by the operator's fingertip. Therefore, in use, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, each fingertip of the operator and the displacement portion 13 are bound by a binding tool 73 with a hook-and-loop fastener.

  The link mechanism 15 is provided to link the displacement portion 13 and the rotating shaft 21, and includes a first link member 17 and a second link member 18. One end of the first link member 17 is pin-bonded to the back surface of the displacement portion 13, and the other end is pin-bonded to the tip of the second link member 18. The base end of the second link member 18 is connected to the rotating shaft 21 of the rotational resistance generating unit 20 so as to rotate together. The distal end portion of the rotating shaft 21 is connected to the displacement amount detection unit 30. When the displacement portion 13 is displaced by the operation of the operator, the rotating shaft 16 rotates in conjunction with the displacement amount of the rotating shaft 16. The amount of movement) is detected by the displacement amount detection unit 30.

  The displacement amount detection unit 30 sends a signal indicating the displacement amount (rotation amount) from the reference position of the displacement unit 13 to the control unit 40. The control unit 40 detects the displacement amount (rotation amount) from the reference position of the displacement unit 13 based on the signal input from the displacement amount detection unit 30, and provides the detected displacement amount (rotation amount) to the display device 50. . In the present embodiment, the position when the displacement portion 13 is on the outermost side (the position where the displacement portion 13 indicated by the solid line in FIG. 3 is located) is set as the reference position.

  Next, a specific configuration example of the rotation resistance generator 20 will be described with reference to FIG. The rotational resistance generator 20 shown in FIG. 1 includes a rotary shaft 21, a disk 22, yokes 24 and 25, a coil 27, a magnetorheological fluid 28, a casing 26, and the like.

  The end of the rotating shaft 21 is connected perpendicularly to the center of the back surface 22b of the disc 22. The rotating shaft 21 is rotatably supported by a shaft hole 60 provided in the yoke 25 via a bearing 29. Note that a nonmagnetic material is preferably used for the rotating shaft 21.

  The disc 22 is made of a magnetic material, and can rotate around the axis integrally with the rotary shaft 21. On the other hand, the casing 26, the yokes 24, 25 and the like are fixed at predetermined positions in the head portion 11 so as not to rotate.

  The yoke is composed of a first yoke 24 and a second yoke 25. The first yoke 24 has a disk-like shape having a facing surface 24a facing the surface 22a of the disk 22 with a minute gap. It consists of The first yoke 24 is fixed by being fitted into a cylindrical casing 26.

  The second yoke 25 has a facing surface 25a that faces the back surface 22b of the disc 22 with a minute gap therebetween. The second yoke 25 has a shaft hole 60 through which the rotary shaft 21 is passed, and also has an annular groove 25 b for arranging the coil 27. The second yoke 25 is fitted and fixed inside the cylindrical casing 26.

  Reference numeral 61 denotes a sphere made of a non-magnetic material, which is formed at the center of the end surface of the rotary shaft 21 and the recess formed at the center of the first yoke 24, the through hole formed at the center of the disk 22. And is accommodated in a space formed by a concave portion. The spherical body 61 is for facilitating the setting of the gap between the first yoke 24 and the disc 22, and the gap is determined by the diameter of the spherical body 61.

  The coil 27 is disposed along the groove 25 b formed in the second yoke 25. An arbitrary value of current is supplied to the coil 27 from any of the five current supply units 42 included in the control device 40.

The magnetorheological fluid 28 is sealed in a gap between the disc 22 and the first yoke 24 and the second yoke 25. The magnetorheological fluid 28 is a liquid in which magnetic particles are dispersed in a dispersion medium, and in particular, a liquid in which the magnetic particles are composed of nano-sized metal particles (metal nanoparticles) can be used. The magnetic particles are made of a magnetizable metal material, and the metal material is not particularly limited, but a soft magnetic material is preferable. Examples of the soft magnetic material include alloys such as iron, cobalt, nickel, and permalloy. The dispersion medium is not particularly limited, and a hydrophobic silicone oil can be given as an example. The blending amount of the magnetic particles in the magnetorheological fluid may be, for example, 3 to 40 vol%. Various additives can also be added to the magnetorheological fluid in order to obtain various desired properties.

  In the rotational resistance generator 20 having the above configuration, when a current is applied to the coil 27, a magnetic path is formed in the disc 22, the first yoke 24, and the second yoke 25 along the direction indicated by the arrow P. . This magnetic path is a magnetorheological fluid 28 interposed in a gap between the front surface 22 a of the disk 22 and the facing surface 24 a of the first yoke 24, or a gap between the back surface 22 b of the disk 22 and the facing surface 25 a of the second yoke 25. To penetrate. As a result, the magnetorheological fluid 28 develops a viscosity (shear stress) corresponding to the strength of the magnetic field, and the transmission torque between the disc 22 and the yokes 24 and 25 increases according to the strength of the magnetic field. As a result, the rotational resistance of the rotating shaft 21 also increases in accordance with the current value applied to the coil 27.

  Next, the control device 40 and the display device 50 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the control device 40 includes a control unit 41 configured by a microcomputer or the like, and five current supply units 42 configured by a power supply circuit or the like. The control unit 41 stores correspondence information between the displacement amount of the displacement unit 13 and the current value to be supplied to the rotation resistance generation unit 20 for each type of virtual object, and is detected via the displacement amount detection unit 30. A current having a value corresponding to the amount of displacement is supplied to the coil 27 of each rotational resistance generator 20 via the current supply unit 42.

  In the present embodiment, the control unit 41 uses the force information 43a for “tennis ball”, the force information 43b for “water balloon”, and the force information 43c for “electric ball” as correspondence information between the displacement amount and the current value. Is remembered. As the force information 43a of the “tennis ball”, for example, as shown in FIG. 6A, a correspondence relationship in which the current value [A] increases as the displacement amount [θ] increases is shown for each displacement unit 13. Is remembered. Further, as the force information 43b of “water balloon”, for example, as shown in FIG. 6B, the current value [A] increases to a certain value θ1 as the displacement amount [θ] increases. A correspondence relationship such that the current value [A] becomes zero when θ1 or more is stored for each displacement portion 13. As the force information 43c of the “electric ball”, for example, as shown in FIG. 6C, the current value [A] increases to a certain value θ2 as the displacement amount [θ] increases. A correspondence relationship is formed for each displacement portion 13 such that the current value [A] forms an ON / OFF rectangular wave with an increase in the displacement amount [θ] when θ2 or more.

  In the present embodiment, when the amount of displacement of the displacement unit 13 decreases, the control unit 41 detects this and stops the current supply to the rotation resistance generation unit 20 regardless of the correspondence relationship. Thereby, when the operator opens the hand, the displacement portion 13 can be easily returned to the original position.

  The display device 50 displays on the screen 51 a virtual object 71 and a virtual hand 72 that are deformed in accordance with the displacement amount of the displacement unit 13 detected by the displacement amount detection unit 30 (see FIG. 7). In the present embodiment, the display device 50 is constructed by a notebook PC in which a predetermined CG image application program is installed.

  The display device 50 is connected to the control device 40 and transmits the type information of the virtual object selected by the user on the display device 50, information indicating the start / end of the CG image application program, and the like. On the other hand, the display device 50 acquires information on the displacement amount of each displacement unit 13 from the control unit 41 of the control device 40, and the virtual object 71 and the virtual hand 72 set in advance according to the displacement amount of each displacement unit 13. Is displayed on the virtual space of the screen 51.

  In the display device 50, when the CG image application program is activated and the operator performs a predetermined operation and the type of the virtual object is selected, the virtual object 71 is displayed on the screen 51 of the display device 50 as shown in FIG. And the virtual hand 72 is displayed. Further, the type information of the selected virtual object is transmitted to the control unit 41, and the control unit 41 stores a plurality of pieces of correspondence information stored in the correspondence information between the displacement amount and the current value regarding the selected virtual object. Select from the inside.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 7, when the operator places the hand 75 on the operation unit 10 and displaces each displacement unit 13 by the gripping operation of the fingertip, the operation of each displacement unit 13 is performed via the link mechanism 15. Is transmitted to the rotation shaft 21 of the rotation resistance generator 20. At this time, a displacement amount (rotation amount) of the displacement portion 13 is detected by the displacement amount detection unit 30, and a current having a value corresponding to the detected displacement amount is supplied to the rotation resistance generation unit 20 in the correspondence information. For this reason, a force sense corresponding to the grip amount is presented to the operator's hand.

  For example, when “tennis ball” is selected as the virtual object 71, as shown in FIG. 6A, the current value supplied to the rotation resistance generator 20 increases according to the amount of displacement. A sense of force that increases the reaction force according to the amount is presented to the operator's hand. At the same time, on the screen 51 of the display device 50, an image simulating a state where the “tennis ball” is grasped by the hand is displayed (see FIG. 7). For example, when the operator simply puts his / her hand on the head unit 11 and hardly presses the displacement unit 13, a state is shown in which a “tennis ball” is gently grasped by hand as shown in FIG. The image is displayed on the screen 51 of the device 50. From here, as the operator pushes the displacement part 13 with the fingertip, the image of the state in which the “tennis ball” is grasped with the hand continuously from the image shown in FIG. 8A to the image shown in FIG. 8B. To change.

  Further, for example, when “water balloon” is selected as the virtual object 71, as shown in FIG. 6B, the current value [A] is increased to a certain value θ1 as the displacement amount [θ] increases. The current value [A] becomes zero when the displacement amount is θ1 or more. For this reason, the reaction force from the displacement portion 13 increases to a certain extent according to the gripping amount, and when the gripping amount exceeds a certain level, the reaction force suddenly becomes zero, that is, when the water balloon bursts. A sense of force is presented to the operator's hand. On the other hand, on the screen 51 of the display device 50, for example, in a state where the operator only places his / her hand on the head unit 11 and hardly presses the displacement unit 13, as shown in FIG. From this state, as the operator pushes the displacement portion 13 with the fingertip, the image shown in FIG. 9 (a) changes to the image shown in FIG. 9 (b). The image of the “balloon” grasped by hand changes continuously. Further, when the displacement amount [θ] becomes θ1, the state shown in FIG. 9B suddenly changes to the state shown in FIG. 9C, that is, the state where the water balloon is ruptured. The reaction force from suddenly becomes zero. Thereafter, the state that the “water balloon” is slightly shrunken and falls from the hand regardless of the amount of displacement of the displacement portion 13 is displayed. In this embodiment, if the displacement amount [θ] of at least one displacement portion 13 among the five displacement portions 13 is equal to or greater than θ1, the displacement amounts [θ] of the other displacement portions 13 are less than θ1. However, the current supply to all the rotational resistance generators 20 is stopped.

  For example, when the “electric ball” is selected as the virtual object 71, the current value [A] is also reduced to a value θ2 as the displacement amount [θ] increases as shown in FIG. As a result of the increase, the amount of displacement is equal to or larger than θ2, and a rectangular wave having an ON / OFF current value [A] is formed as the amount of displacement [θ] increases. For this reason, the reaction force from the displacement portion 13 increases to a certain extent according to the amount of gripping, and when the gripping amount exceeds a certain level, a force sense consisting of sudden pulse wave vibration is presented to the operator's hand. A video example of “Electric Ball” is not particularly illustrated, but since it is a virtual object, various situations can be set. For example, when the image is such that the light is brightly emitted in proportion to the grip amount (the displacement amount of the displacement portion 13), or when the pulse wave vibration is presented, the pulse is more than when the vibration is not presented. It may be possible to make the image bright and radiate.

  According to the force sense presentation device according to the embodiment of the present invention described above, the rotational resistance generator 20 for presenting the force sense is stable even when the rotational speed is near zero, unlike the electric motor. The reaction force (force sensation) can be presented and the inertia is smaller than that of an electric motor, so the motion of the image and the force sensation presented on the operation unit can be linked with high accuracy without requiring complicated control. It becomes possible to make it.

<Other embodiments>
In the above-described embodiment, by urging the displacement portion 13 to the return position with a return spring or the like, the displaced displacement portion 13 is automatically restored when the operator releases the hand from the operation portion 10. You may make it return to the position of.

  The present invention is applicable to, for example, a force sense presentation device that presents a force sense of a virtual object displayed on a video to an operator.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Operation part 13 Displacement part 20 Rotation resistance generation part 21 Rotation axis (rotation part)
28 Magnetorheological Fluid 30 Displacement Amount Detection Unit 40 Control Device 41 Control Unit 42 Current Supply Unit 50 Display Device 71 Virtual Object 72 Virtual Hand

Claims (3)

An operation unit having a displacement unit that is displaced by the operation of the operator;
A displacement amount detection unit for detecting a displacement amount of the displacement unit;
A rotating part that rotates in conjunction with the displacement operation of the displacement part, and a magnetic field having a strength corresponding to the magnitude of the supplied current is applied to the magnetorheological fluid enclosed therein, and the magnitude of the current A rotation resistance generator configured to impart a rotation resistance according to the rotation to the rotation unit;
A control device for supplying a current of a value determined based on correspondence information between a preset displacement amount and a current value and a displacement amount detected by the displacement amount detection unit to the rotational resistance generation unit;
A display device that displays in a virtual space a virtual object that is deformed according to the displacement detected by the displacement detector;
A force sense presentation device comprising: The force sense presentation device according to claim 1,
The operation part has a plurality of the displacement parts,
The displacement amount detection unit is provided for each displacement unit,
The rotational resistance generating portion is provided for each displacement portion,
The control device supplies a current of a value determined based on a preset correspondence information between a displacement amount and a current value for each displacement portion and a displacement amount detected by each displacement amount detection portion to each rotation resistance generation portion. Each of which supplies
The display device displays, in a virtual space, a virtual object that deforms a portion corresponding to each displacement unit according to a displacement amount detected by each displacement amount detection unit.
A haptic device characterized by that. In the haptic device according to claim 1 or 2,
The display device displays a virtual hand that deforms a portion corresponding to each displacement unit in the virtual space together with the virtual object according to a displacement amount detected by each displacement amount detection unit.
A haptic device characterized by that.

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