JP2019106102A - Hardness sense presentation device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a hardness sense presentation device that expresses the hardness sense of a virtual object at the time of a collision with small energy.SOLUTION: A hardness sense presentation device S according to the present invention includes an intervening body 2 gripped by or attached to a hand 1, and an actuator 5 that gives the hand 1 a sense of hardness of an object 9 by dividing the collision sensation considered to be received from the object 9 in an actual environment when the intervening body 2 contacts the object 9 in a virtual environment into reaction force in collision direction α1 and vibration in a direction α2 perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the collision direction α1.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a hardness sense presentation device.

  In a real environment, when an object held in contact with an object is held by a hand-held stylus, haptic and tactile sensations are induced to the hand via the stylus. For example, when a user lifts a grasped stylus and strikes a table, a person detects the table by a sense of force due to movement of muscles and a sense of touch due to deformation of the skin.

  On the other hand, commercial haptic devices used for remote control systems and virtual environments (hereinafter referred to as VRs) are mainly focused on giving a sense of force to people, and many of them do not utilize the sense of touch. Also, the output of the haptic device is hardware dependent, and there is a limit to the haptics that can be presented to the operator. Therefore, it is considered difficult to express the hardness of a material having high rigidity, that is, high hardness.

  However, since many relatively rigid materials such as aluminum and hard plastic exist in daily life, it is necessary to have a function to express the hardness of the highly rigid material. In addition, since the function to feel the hardness is indispensable as the sense of the hand, the hardness expression of the material with high rigidity can be said to be one of the basic functions to give a sense of realism to the remote control system and VR.

  Many proposals (nonpatent literature 1-3) are made also in the conventional research as a method of expressing hardness of an object. One of them is a method (Non-Patent Documents 4 and 5) of increasing the hardness felt by the operator using vibration stimulation. Non-patent documents 4 and 5 are such that when a vibrational stimulus is superimposed on the reaction force at the time of collision, the hardness feeling is improved.

In the conventional researches (Non-Patent Documents 4 and 5), the vibration used to improve the hardness feeling is often represented by a damped sine wave in the reaction force direction as an acceleration vibration generated as a result of an object collision.
The relationship between hardness and vibration is also used to measure the surface hardness of an object (Patent Document 1). This measurement is performed by measuring the shape of the object and displacement using ultrasonic waves. In addition, it is also used for sense presentation of writing, and is performed by presenting to the operator a vibration corresponding to handwriting feeling of handwriting (Patent Document 2).

JP, 2012-37420, A (paragraph 0037, paragraphs 0054-0057, FIG. 1, FIG. 2 etc.) Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-551015 (Paragraphs 0042 to 0068, FIGS. 2 to 4 and the like)

Akabane Katsuhito, Hasegawa Shoichi, Koike Yasuharu, Sato Makoto: High Resolution Haptic Rendering with 10 kHz Update Frequency, Transactions of the Virtual Reality Society of Japan, 9 (3), 217-226 (2004) E. Vander Poorten and Y. Yokokohji: Rendering a Rigid Virtual World through an Impulsive Haptic Interface, Proc. IEEE / RSJ Int'l Conf. Intelligent Robots and Systems, 1547-1552 (2006) Z. Quek, S. Schorr, I. Nisky, A. Okamura and W. Provancher: Augmentation of stiffness perception with a 1-degree-of-freedom skin stretch device, IEEE Trans. Human-Machine Syst., 44 (6) , 731-742 (2014) A. M. Okamura, M. R. Cutkosky, and J. T. Dennerlein: Reality-based models for vibration feedback in virtual environments, IEEE / ASME Trans. Mechatronics, 6 (3), 245-252 (2001) K. Kuchenbecker, J. Fiene, and G. Niemeyer: Improving contact realism through event-based haptic feedback, IEEE Trans. Vis. Comput. Graphics, 12 (2), 219-230, (2006) Kotaro Tadano, Kenji Kawashima: Development of a Master Slave System with Force-Sensing Abilities Using Pneumatic Actuators for Therapeutic Surgery, Advanced Robotics, 24 (12), 1763-1783 (2010) Tomoyuki Saito, Kotaro Ogino: Presentation of simulated shock sensation by vibrational stimulation with frequency change, Robotics and Mechatronics Conference, 1A1-M01 (2017)

The vibration in Patent Document 1 measures the displacement of the contact point of the pointer, and it is assumed that the material that controls the vibration is the shear modulus of the material and the shear damping rate.
Patent Document 2 describes that in a handwriting input system, a hand gives a feeling of writing by vibration. However, although the vibration waveform is described in Patent Document 1, the other details are not described. In Patent Document 2, since vibration generating means long in the longitudinal direction of the information writing input unit (120) to be held is provided, it is presumed that the vibration is generated in the direction of the reaction force received by the information writing input unit (120). Be done.

  In addition, paragraph 0099 of Patent Document 1 includes a predetermined amount of haptic load such as pressure or vibration that restricts the movement of the surface of the virtual object from the position of the surface to the user's finger or palm portion. It is described that the load is given by some sense such as an electrical signal, heat and the like. The vibration here is presumed to be the vibration in the reaction force direction of the surface of the virtual object from the description.

FIG. 7 is a view showing a state in which vibration in the reaction force direction is transmitted to the stylus 102 gripped by the conventional hand 101.
When the hardness of the object 103 in contact with the stylus 102 is given to the hand 101 by the above-described vibration in the reaction force direction (arrow α 102 in FIG. 7), the vibration in the reaction force direction by the stylus 102 is caught between the stylus 102 and the virtual object 103 Will be

At this time, the required vibration is a vibration that deforms the skin, and in order to cause the stylus 102 to generate the vibration, it is necessary for the force that generates the vibration to exceed the pinching force. In order to realize this, since it is the easiest to vibrate the reaction force, the force sense and the touch feeling related to the hardness of the object 103 are shown only by the reaction force.
To express the hardness of a material with high rigidity, it is necessary to generate a large reaction force, and to realize the vibration that deforms the skin, it is necessary to make the reaction force in the opposite direction. Therefore, it is required to create a large output fluctuation instantaneously.

Therefore, a large amount of energy is required to generate the vibration felt by the hand 101.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a hardness sense presentation device that expresses the hardness of a virtual object at the time of a collision with a virtual object with a small amount of energy by haptic sense.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned subject, the hardness sense presentation device of the present invention is provided with an intervening body to be gripped or attached to a hand, and when the intervening body comes in contact with an object in a virtual environment, from the object in a real environment An actuator which gives the hardness sense of the object to the hand by generating a collision sense considered to be received as a reaction force in the collision direction and a vibration in a direction perpendicular to or substantially perpendicular to the collision direction. There is.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a hardness sensation presentation device that expresses the hardness sensation at the time of collision with an object with small energy.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The perspective view which shows the hardness feeling presentation apparatus of Embodiment 1 which concerns on this invention. The perspective view which shows the hardness sensation presentation apparatus of Embodiment 2 to which this invention is applied. The enlarged view which shows a holding part. The figure which shows the external appearance of the hardness feeling presentation apparatus used for experiment, and arrangement | positioning of a virtual wall. The block diagram of control of a hardness feeling presentation apparatus. The flowchart of control of a hardness feeling presentation apparatus. The figure which shows the state which transmits the vibration of a reaction force direction to the stylus currently gripped by the conventional hand.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
The present invention relates to a configuration in which a sense of hardness of a virtual object is represented by a haptic sense when an intervening body worn or worn by a person collides with the virtual object.

<< Configuration of First Embodiment >>
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a hardness sense presentation device S of Embodiment 1 according to the present invention.
The hardness sense presentation device S according to the embodiment is a device that presents the hardness sense and the collision sense of the virtual object 9 that has collided in the virtual environment (VR).

  Specifically, when the intervening body (stylus 2) grasped by the operator's hand 1 collides with the virtual object 9 in the virtual environment, the hardness sense presentation device S can set the hardness of the virtual object 9 through the stylus 2 Present the sense of touch to hand 1.

The hardness sense presentation device S includes a stylus 2, a base 3, and a control device 4.
The stylus 2 and the base 3 are connected by first and second arms a1 and a2. A first joint k1 is provided between the stylus 2 and the first arm a1, a second joint k2 is provided between the first arm a1 and the second arm a2, and a second arm a2 and the base 3 A third joint k3 is provided between them.
By this configuration, the stylus 2 is connected to the base 3.

The first, second and third joints k1, k2 and k3 and the first and second arms a1 and a2 and the base 3 are wires such as the stylus 2 and the first and second arms a1 and a2. Wires (not shown) are provided.
In addition, in order to measure the postures of the stylus 2 and the first and second arms a1 and a2, angle sensors s1, s2 and s3 such as encoders and potentiometers are mounted on the first, second and third joints k1, k2 and k3. 1) is used.

A VCM (voice coil motor) 5 is disposed in the inside of the stylus 2 so as to vibrate in the lateral direction of the stylus 2 (white arrow α2 in FIG. 1). The stylus 2 is held by the operator's hand 1 and abuts on the virtual object 9 by being operated.
The control device 4 controls the entire hardness sense presentation device S. The control device 4 controls the VCM 5 inside the stylus 2 and a motor provided on the base 3 and receives detection signals of the angle sensors s1, s2, and s3.

  When the stylus 2 held by the operator with the hand 1 collides with the virtual object 9, the hardness sense presentation device S vibrates in a direction perpendicular to the reaction force (in the direction of the white arrow α1 in FIG. 1) and the reaction force ( The white arrow α2) in FIG.

The hardness of the virtual object 9 is expressed on the hand 1 by the vibration of the stylus 2.
In detail, the hardness of the virtual object 9 is given to the operator by presenting the sense of impact generated on the stylus 2 upon collision with the virtual object 9 using vibration in a direction perpendicular to the reaction force. It gives a sense. The vibration in the direction perpendicular to the reaction force is performed by the VCM 5 built in the stylus 2.

  As described above, by applying the vibration (white arrow α2 in FIG. 1) affecting the hardness sensation of the virtual object 9 in the direction perpendicular to the reaction force, the hardness sensation presentation device S generates a collision Give a sense of hardness.

For example, when the stylus 2 shown in FIG. 1 collides with the virtual object 9, vibration is added to the stylus 2 in a direction perpendicular to the reaction force together with the reaction force, and the hardness sense of the virtual object 9 is recognized by the hand 1 Let
In this way, it is attempted to reproduce the sensation of impact by the behavior of the stylus 2 when actually colliding with a hard material, and to improve the sensation of hardness of the virtual object 9.

  In order to express the hardness of the virtual object 9 at the time of a collision by force sense, it is necessary to generate a reaction force and a vibration.

<How to present a sense of hardness>
The vibration used to improve the hardness feeling has conventionally been, as described above, the vibration resulting from collision with the virtual object 9, as shown in FIG. 7, a damped sine wave in the reaction force direction (arrow .alpha. 101 in FIG. 7). (Non-Patent Documents 4 and 5) (Arrow α 102) in many cases.

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment (the present invention), a rectangular wave (arrow α2 in FIG. 1) in a direction perpendicular to the reaction force (arrow α1 in FIG. 1) is used. The square wave preferably has a pulse number of 2 or more in order to provide tactile stimulation to the hand 1.

  The rectangular wave expresses the feeling of shock accompanying the double striking phenomenon in which the shock waveform generated when the stylus 2 collides with kinetic energy shows two or more peaks.

  The rectangular wave makes it possible to increase the hardness felt by the hand 1 of the operator. In this representation method, since the directions of the reaction force (the direction of the white arrow α1 in FIG. 1) and the vibration (white arrow α2 in FIG. 1) from the virtual object 9 are different, the vibration can be generated without interference with the reaction force. Therefore, the motion of the reaction force and the vibration can be controlled independently.

<< Embodiment 2 >>
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a hardness sense presentation device 2S of Embodiment 2 to which the present invention is applied.
The hardness sense presentation device 2S of the second embodiment is a manipulator with six degrees of freedom formed from three configurations of a translatory unit 11, a posture unit 12, and a grip unit 13 (see Non-Patent Document 6). Six degrees of freedom are three-dimensional translational motion of the X axis, Y axis, and Z axis, and rotational motion around the α axis, β axis, and γ axis, which will be described later.

The hardness sensation presentation device 2S includes a control device 24 responsible for control. The control device 24 controls the hardness sensation presentation device 2S using admittance control described later.
The translating unit 11 and the posture unit 12 of the hardness sensation presentation device 2S correspond to the first joints k1 to base 3 in the hardness sensation presentation device S of the first embodiment. That is, the first joints k1 to base 3 of the first embodiment have the same configuration as the translation unit 11 and the posture unit 12 of the hardness sense presentation device 2S of the second embodiment.

The gripping portion 13 of the second embodiment corresponds to the stylus 2 in the hardness sense presentation device S of the first embodiment.
A delta mechanism and a gimbal mechanism are used for the translation unit 11 and the posture unit 12 of the hardness sense presentation device 2S, respectively.

The delta mechanism of the translating unit 11 is responsible for three-dimensional translational motion of the X axis, the Y axis, and the Z axis. The gimbal mechanism of the posture unit 12 is responsible for rotational motion around the α axis, the β axis, and the γ axis.
In the translation unit 11, motors 15, 16, 17 for translational movement are installed. The motors 15, 16, 17 are connected to the links 11a, 11b, 11c of the translation unit 11 via the reduction mechanisms 15g, 16g, 17g, respectively.

  The posture unit 12 is provided with motors 18, 19 and 20 for rotational movement. The motors 18, 19 and 20 are connected to the links 12a, 12b and 12c of the posture portion 12 via the reduction mechanisms 18g, 19g and 20g, respectively.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view (cover removal) showing the grip 13.
The gripping portion 13 has a U-shaped stylus 13 s and a VCM (voice coil motor) 14.
The VCM 14 is installed inside the U-shaped stylus 13 s. That is, the VCM 14 is attached to the inside of the gripping portion 13. With this configuration, the vibration by the VCM 14 is transmitted to the operator's hand 1 gripping the U-shaped stylus 13s via the U-shaped stylus 13s.

The VCM 14 of the gripping portion 13 corresponds to the VCM 5 of the stylus 2 in the hardness sense presentation device S.
A force sensor 22 for detecting a force applied by the operator with the hand 1 is provided below the grip 13.

  The movement by the translation part 11 and the posture part 12 of the grip part 13 and the movement of the VCM 14 can be controlled independently. In other words, the six degrees of freedom movement of the gripping unit 13 by the translating unit 11 and the posture unit 12 and the vibration of the VCM 14 can be controlled independently.

In this example, the operator senses hardness by causing the grip 13 (corresponding to the stylus 2 in FIG. 1) to collide with the virtual wall 21 installed in the movable range of the hardness sensation presentation device 2S shown in FIG. (See Figure 4).
The virtual wall 21 is represented by a reaction force perpendicular to the virtual wall 21 simulating a collision with the grip portion 13 and a vibration in a direction (horizontal direction) perpendicular to the reaction force.
The reaction force perpendicular to the virtual wall 21 is expressed by equation (1) using a spring damper model.
The vibration in the direction horizontal to the virtual wall 21 is expressed by equation (2).

  In the method of expressing a sense of hardness using vibration in a direction horizontal to the virtual wall 21, the sense of hardness can be improved by improving the stimulation of the vibration. There are three means, that is, expansion of vibration amplitude, increase and addition of frequency, and extension of presentation time.

  In the conventional method, since the vibration is generated in the same direction as the reaction force, the change of the vibration also affects the reaction force. However, in the present invention, since the reaction force and the vibration are made independent, changing the vibration does not affect the reaction force. That is, only the influence of the vibration on the hardness can be confirmed.

<The influence of vibration on the feeling of hardness>
As a result of evaluating hardness feeling when changing each coefficient of Formula (2) by a perceptual test, it was confirmed that hardness feeling is improved by these three means. The evaluation test was conducted with the approval (approval number No. 2017015) of the Research Ethics Review Board for Tokyo Institute of Technology.

  In equation (2), b represents the amplitude of vibration, and the influence of the amplitude of vibration can be examined by changing b. As a result of the test, the hardness feeling could be improved by increasing b. Therefore, in order to improve the feeling of hardness, it is desirable that the amplitude of the vibration be large.

In addition, f _v represents the frequency of vibration, can see the impact of the frequency of the vibration by changing the f _v. As a result of conducting a test by frequency 50 Hz step, it felt that 350 Hz was the hardest, the hardness of 300 Hz and 400 Hz was about the same, and then it became gradually less felt in order of 250 Hz and 450 Hz. Therefore, there is a property that the improvement effect of the hardness feeling by the frequency becomes large around 350 Hz. Therefore, it is desirable that the vibration frequency f _v be higher than 250 Hz and lower than 450 Hz.

  Furthermore, Formula (1) and Formula (2) express the collision of the holding part 13 and the virtual wall 21, and can change the time to express with the control apparatus 24. FIG. As a result of the test examining the effect of the time to apply equation (2), the hardness sense can be improved by extending the vibration presentation time, but the vibration of 40 ms or more is received as a sense different from the hardness sense, It turned out that the improvement effect of a feeling of hardness also falls. As mentioned above, in order that vibration of Formula (2) may be expressed as a hardness feeling, 20 ms or less is effective and desirable as presentation time of a vibration.

    Here, from the collision experiment (non-patent document 7) of the previous research, the duration of the impact generated on the stylus as a result of the collision with the object is about 10 ms, and the time for human hand 1 to recognize the collision from the result of the above test is It is likely to be less than 20 ms. However, since the presented waveform can not be a vibrational stimulus by only one pulse, and does not represent the tactile stimulation of the double striking phenomenon unless it is two or more pulses, the time for the vibration presentation is required for at least two pulses. Ru. Therefore, it is desirable that the presentation time of the vibration giving the hardness feeling is more than 4 ms and not more than 20 ms.

  In the same vibrational stimulation of the first and second embodiments, it is possible to independently control the reaction force in the direction perpendicular to the virtual wall 21 and the vibration movement in the direction perpendicular to the reaction force. (2) was used. The vibration may be a sine wave, a damped sine wave or the like in addition to the rectangular wave shown in equation (2). Here, it has been confirmed in tests that the degree of recognition of the vibration stimulation in the operator's hand 1 can be recognized as a hardness feeling in the order of the damped sine wave, the sine wave and the rectangular wave.

<Control of hardness feeling presentation device 2S>
FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of control of the hardness sense presentation device 2S.

In FIG. 5, V _VCm is an output voltage to the VCM 14 (corresponding to vibration in a direction perpendicular to the reaction force), and f _wall is a force (reaction force) to be presented to the operator's hand 1 as a virtual wall 21, f _ext Is a force applied to the hand 1 of the operator (detection information of the force sensor 22 (FIG. 2)). f _ref is a force to be presented to the hand 1 of the operator, and f _ref can move the grip 13 without feeling resistance to the hand 1 of the operator.
Ms is an inertia matrix of the translation unit 11 and the attitude unit 12, B is a viscosity matrix of the translation unit 11 and the attitude unit 12, and J ⁻¹ is a Jacobian inverse matrix.

  Thin broken lines in FIG. 5 represent drivers for the motors 15, 16, 17 of the translation part 11 and the motors 18, 19, 20 of the posture part 12, and a current corresponding to the speed change is supplied.

  The thick broken line in FIG. 5 indicates a reaction force (Interaction Force) in a direction perpendicular to the virtual wall 21 which is generated in the holding portion 13 when the holding portion 13 abuts on the virtual wall 21 and a direction perpendicular to the reaction force. It represents vibration (Vibration).

The lower left-to-right line in the block diagram of FIG. 5 is control for driving the gripping unit 13 by the translating unit 11 and the posture unit 12 in accordance with the movement of the hand 1. It drives using the admittance control which outputs speed according to it. More precisely, the movement of the motor is controlled so that the difference between the value f _ext of the force sensor 22 and the target value f _ref is eliminated.
The line from the upper right of the block diagram to the left shows the feeling of the virtual wall 21 when the gripping portion 13 comes to a predetermined position with the virtual wall 21 (the gripping portion 13 collides with the virtual wall 21). It is a block to create and generate vibration in the direction perpendicular to reaction force and reaction force.

<Generation of hardness feeling by virtual wall 21>
FIG. 4 shows the appearance of the hardness sense presentation device 2S used in the experiment and the arrangement of the virtual wall 21. As shown in FIG.
Next, as shown in FIG. 4, when the gripping portion 13 gripped by the hand 1 of the operator collides with the virtual wall 21, a flow for causing the hand 1 to feel the hardness of the virtual wall 21 will be described. .

  This control is performed by the control device 24 (see FIG. 2) of the hardness sensation presentation device 2S.

  FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of control of the hardness sense presentation device 2S.

Steps S111 to S114 on the left side of FIG. 6 are a flow of reaction force generation from the virtual wall 21 when the grip 13 collides with the virtual wall 21. Further, steps S121 to S124 on the right side of FIG. 6 are a flow of generation of vibration of the virtual wall 21 when the grip 13 collides with the virtual wall 21.
As a matter of course, the generation of the reaction force in steps S111 to S114 and the generation of the vibrations in steps S121 to S124 are performed with the gripping portion 13 colliding with the virtual wall 21 as a starting point.

Next, the power distribution for producing the reaction force of the virtual wall 21 by the motors 15 to 20 (see FIG. 2) of the translating unit 11 and the posture unit 12 (corresponding to the base 3 in FIG. 1) is calculated. It is a flow from the force f _ref presented to the hand 1 of the operator shown in FIG. 5 to the speed target value q _ref of each joint (step S112).

Next, as shown by the thin broken line in FIG. 5, a current command is output from the motor driver to the motors 15, 16, 17 of the translating unit 11 and the motors 18, 19, 20 of the posture unit 12 (step S113).
Thereby, the translation part 11 and the posture part 12 operate, and the reaction force f _wall is presented to the hand 1 from the grip part 13 (step S113). Thus, the reaction force of the virtual wall 21 is applied to the hand 1 of the operator via the grip 13 (step S130).

Then, the square wave vibration of the amplitude V _vcm proportional to the collision velocity is calculated using the equation (2) (step S121). Here, for example, an amplitude coefficient b = 7.0 [Vs / m] and an oscillation frequency f _v = 300 [Hz] are used.
Subsequently, the duration time of the vibration (presentation time t) is set, and for example, the duration (presentation time t) ≦ 10 ms is set (step S122). The term t ≦ 10 ms means that the VCM 14 is vibrated if it is 10 ms or less after the contact of the virtual wall 21.

Subsequently, a voltage command is output to the VCM 14 (step S123).
Thereby, the VCM 14 is driven, and vibration (= V _vcm ) in a direction perpendicular to the reaction force from the virtual wall 21 is generated (step S123). Thus, the vibration of the virtual wall 21 is applied to the hand 1 holding the grip 13 together with the collision feeling, and both are combined and expressed as the hardness feeling of the virtual wall 21 (step S130).

<Representation of Reaction Force and Hardness Sense of Virtual Object 9 in Hardness Sense Display Device S of First Embodiment>
Next, in the hardness sense presentation device S of Embodiment 1 shown in FIG. 1, presentation of a reaction force and vibration when the stylus 2 gripped by the hand 1 collides with the virtual object 9 will be described.

The hardness sense presentation device S of Embodiment 1 is subjected to impedance control.
The impedance control is generated in the stylus 2 on the premise that the inertia of the stylus 2 and the first and second arms a1 and a2 and the friction of the first, second and third joints k1, k2 and k3 are sufficiently small. The torque of each of the first, second and third joints k1, k2 and k3 corresponding thereto is calculated from the power and the reaction force is presented to the hand 1 by generating the torque on the base 3 of the actuator .

According to the above configuration, a mechanism that vibrates in the direction perpendicular to the reaction force is added to the intervening body (the stylus 2 and the gripping portion 13). That is, the VCMs 5 and 14 of the activator are mounted on the intervening body.
In the prior art, the present invention applies vibration in a direction perpendicular to the reaction force, while vibration is applied in the direction of the reaction force to present a sense of hardness when colliding with the virtual object 9 or the virtual wall 21 via an intervening body. Add.

This makes it possible to make the vibration that is dependent on the reaction force and that affects the hardness feel independent of the reaction force. That is, the interference between the reaction force and the vibration that affects the hardness can be removed. As a result, it is possible to free the combination of the reaction force and the vibration that affects the hardness feeling.
Further, since the vibration affecting the hardness feeling is in the direction perpendicular to the reaction force, the required vibration can be generated by a small-sized activator (voice coil motor, vibration motor, etc.). Along with this, it is not necessary to generate vibrations in the mechanical units (the first arm a1 to the base 3, the translation unit 11 and the posture unit 12). The effect of improving hardness feel is high.
Furthermore, since the control of the reaction force direction is free, it may be possible to additionally create a grainy feeling, a rough feeling and the like.
Therefore, hardness sense presentation devices S and 2S can be realized which can express the hardness sense at the time of collision of the virtual object 9 (virtual wall 21) with small energy.

<< Other Embodiments >>
1. In the first embodiment, a configuration is described in which vibration is generated in a direction perpendicular to the reaction force of the virtual object 9 to present a sense of hardness. In the second embodiment, vibration is generated in the direction perpendicular to the reaction force of the virtual wall 21. Although the configuration for generating the hardness sensation is described, the vibration may be generated in the direction close to the vertical direction of the reaction force to present the hardness sensation.
Alternatively, vibration may be generated in a direction intersecting the reaction force to present a sense of hardness.
In this case, the vibration in the reaction force direction is sandwiched by the reaction force and can not be a vibration that deforms the skin, that is, generates a tactile stimulation. Therefore, although the strength of the vibration stimulation is considered to be weakened, an improvement effect of the hardness feeling can be obtained by the strength of the stimulation of the vibration component in the direction perpendicular to the reaction force. Therefore, if vibration that can be used for deformation of the skin is generated, vibration may be generated in the direction intersecting the reaction force to present a sense of hardness.
However, if the vibration is in the direction perpendicular to the reaction force, it is independent of the reaction force and independent control can be made, so it is more desirable that the vibration be closer to the reaction force in the vertical direction.

2. The reaction force may be changed to a damped sine wave vibration model or the like instead of the spring and damper model.
3. As described above, the vibration may be not only a rectangular wave, but also a sine wave as in equation (3), a triangular wave as in equation (4), a sawtooth wave as in equation (5), or the like. The vibration may be any vibration other than that shown in Equation (2), Equation (3), Equation (4), and Equation (5), and is not limited as long as it is a vibration.

4. In the embodiment described above, the stylus 2 and the holding unit 13 are illustrated as the intervening body that collides with the virtual object 9 and the virtual wall 21, but any other medium that collides with the virtual object 9 and the virtual wall 21 may be used. Good. There is no limitation as long as it is hand-held, hand-mounted or hand-mounted, it is optional.
5. In the above embodiment, the reaction force has been presented a reaction force with the spring coefficient K _P and the damper coefficient K _d, may be configured to present a reaction force using only spring coefficient K _P. The presentation method of reaction force is arbitrary.

6. Although the vibration presenting the sense of hardness is presented together with the reaction force, it may be configured to present only the vibration presenting the sensation of hardness.
7. Instead of the control devices 4 and 24 of the above embodiment, the stylus 2 of the hardness sensation presentation device S and the grip portion 13 of the hardness sensation presentation device 2S may be remotely controlled.

8. In the first embodiment, the stylus 2 is connected to the base 3 via the first and second arms a1 and a2, and in the first embodiment, the posture unit 12 and the translation unit 11 are connected to the holding unit 13. However, the stylus 2 and the grip 13 may be connected to mechanisms having other configurations.

9. The above embodiments are described in detail in order to explain the present invention in an easy-to-understand manner, and various specific forms and modifications are possible as long as the configurations described in the claims are included.

  The present invention can be widely applied to any field and configuration to which the present invention can be applied, such as VR (Virtual Reality), remote control system, endoscopic surgery, game controller and the like.

1 hand 2 stylus (intermediate)
3 Base (mechanical part)
4, 24 Controller 5 VCM (Actuator)
9 Virtual Object (Object in Virtual Environment)
11 Translation part (mechanism part)
12 posture part (mechanism part 13 grip part (intervening body)
21 Virtual Wall (Virtual Object)
f _wall reaction force V _vcm vibration 14 VCM (actuator)
t Presentation time (time to vibrate)
S, 2S hardness sense presentation device

Claims (10)

An intermediate that is gripped or attached to the hand,
When the intervening body comes in contact with an object in a virtual environment, the sense of collision considered to be received from the object in the real environment is divided into a reaction force in the collision direction and vibration in a direction perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the collision direction. And an actuator that generates the hardness sensation of the object on the hand. An intermediate that is gripped or attached to the hand,
When the intervening body comes into contact with an object in a virtual environment, a collision sense considered to be received from the object in a real environment is generated by generating a reaction force in a collision direction and a vibration in a direction intersecting the collision direction. And an actuator for giving a feeling of hardness of the object to the hand. In the hardness sense presentation device according to claim 1 or 2,
A hardness sense presentation device, comprising: a mechanical unit that applies a reaction force that is considered to be received from the virtual object when the intermediate body contacts the virtual object. In the hardness sense presentation device according to claim 3,
The mechanism unit is
A hardness sense presentation device, which is connected to the intervening body, changes the posture of the intervening body, and causes the intervening body to perform a translational motion. The hardness sense presentation device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
A hardness sense presentation device, comprising: a control device that controls the actuator to vibrate to give the hardness sense of the virtual object to the hand when the intervening body contacts the virtual object. In the hardness sense presentation device according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The hardness sense presentation device characterized in that a time for causing the vibration is longer than 4 ms and shorter than 40 ms. In the hardness sense presentation device according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The frequency of the vibration is a frequency higher than 200 Hz and lower than 500 Hz. In the hardness sense presentation device according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
The hardness sense presentation device characterized in that the vibration is two or more pulses. The hardness sense presentation device according to any one of claims 1 to 8.
The hardness sense presentation device characterized in that the vibration is a rectangular wave. In the hardness sense presentation device according to any one of claims 1 to 9,
The hardness sense presentation device, wherein the vibration is a sine wave or a damped sine wave.