JP3343565B2 - Force feedback input / output device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a force feedback input / output device used for an information processing apparatus, and more particularly to a force feedback input / output device which can be operated in the same manner as a normal personal computer (personal computer) mouse.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An input / output device having a force feedback function receives a reaction generated at the time of contact with an object generated in a simulation operation as feedback and presents the reaction to a user with the input / output device, thereby providing a sense that is more matched to the senses. This allows the user to have a sense of presence as if performing an input operation, and to perform the operation efficiently. Based on the virtual world drawn on the display screen, robot online,
For efficient offline teaching, input operations such as games and simulation operations are used to improve the sense of reality.

Conventional input / output devices having a force feedback function include (1) a joystick system and (2) a mouse system. The joystick example in Fig. 8 is Microsof
t Side Winder (trademark) Force Feedback Pro (F
orce Feedback Pro (product name). Joystick 2
It is an input / output device that generates a signal with a degree of freedom. Therefore,
The force feedback to the joystick is two degrees of freedom in front-back and left-right movements or one degree of freedom in front-back and left-right movements.

FIG. 9 shows an example of the appearance of a virtual reality mouse (product name) manufactured by Control Advancements. 101 is a mouse, 102 is a force generating link, 103 is a case for accommodating a control unit and the like, and 104 is a case opening. The X and Y axis rotation components of the rotation of the mouse sphere (ball) are measured, and the measured rotation amount is transmitted to the control unit in the case 103 via the force generating link 101, and the movement amount of the mouse 101 is controlled by the control unit 103. It is calculated and transmitted to the information processing device. When there is a force feedback signal from the information processing device, the driving device of the control unit drives the ball of the mouse to rotate in the X and Y-axis directions via the force generating link 102 and presents the force feedback to the user operating the mouse. Is what you do.

[0005]

In the conventional joystick, the degree of freedom for outputting force feedback to the joystick is limited to two or less. Further, since a mouse is generally used as an input device of an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, there is a drawback that many users are not accustomed to operating a joystick whose structure is significantly different from that of a normal mouse.

Further, the conventional mouse 101 also has a translational two-degree-of-freedom (X-axis, Y-axis direction) structure, so that the force feedback of the mouse is less than two degrees of freedom, similarly to the joystick. In addition, since the mouse 101 cannot be separated from the force generating link 102 during operation, there is a disadvantage that the operation range is limited to the movable range of the force generating link 102.

An input operation such as a simulation by the information processing apparatus and a force reaction to the operator have a large degree of freedom in operation, and it is convenient to use a feeling similar to a real environment. An object of the present invention is to provide an input / output device that enables three degrees of freedom of translation and rotation of a force feedback input / output device and can be easily operated like a normal mouse.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention reliably transmits a propulsion force to a movement detection mechanism of an input / output device in a circumferential direction on a grounding surface, and in a vertical direction, that is, a rotation axis. Using an omnidirectional moving mechanism using wheels near zero friction in which no force is transmitted in the direction, connecting rotation detection means and a driving device to each wheel of the omnidirectional moving mechanism, based on the output of the rotation detecting means Calculate the amount of translation and rotation displacement, transmit it to the information processing device, and drive each wheel with the driving device based on the translation and rotation component signal of the force reaction signal received from the information processing device, translate to the operator, It provides force feedback with three degrees of freedom of rotation.

The wheels are a plurality of omni-wheels comprising a barrel-type roller having a side-slip mechanism, and the barrel-type rollers are arranged around the omni-wheel.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of a force feedback input / output device according to the present invention. The embodiment of FIG. 1 uses three omni wheels (0 m
ni-Wheel). 1 is a mouse body, 2a,
2b, 2c are omni wheels, 3 is a motor with a gear (motor with a built-in gear reducer on the output shaft, hereinafter simply motor)
, 4a, 4b, 4c are switches, 5 is a controller,
6 is a connection cable, 7 is an input / output device, 8 is a computer as an arithmetic processing device, 8a is a display device, and 8b is a CP.
U and 8 are keyboards, 10 is a signal including a rotary encoder signal transmitted from the mouse body 1 and switch information of the switches 4a, 4b and 4c, 11 is a feedback (motor drive) signal fed back to the mouse body, and 12 is a controller. 5 is a serial communication signal between the PC 5 and the computer 8.

A computer (personal computer) 8 and the controller 5 are connected by a connection cable, and are connected by RS232C or USB.
(Universal serial bus). The motor drive voltage 11 is sent from the controller 5 to the motors 3a, 3b, 3c of the mouse body 1, and the mouse body sends the controller 5 a rotary encoder signal of each omni wheel and the switches 4a, 4b, 4c.
ON-OFF switch information is sent through a high-speed link system (HLS, Hi-speed Link System, a product of Step Technica).

An omni-wheel is a wheel with almost zero friction that transmits a propulsive force reliably in the circumferential direction on the ground contact surface and does not transmit a force in the vertical direction, that is, the direction of the rotation axis. FIG.
Fig. 2 shows an exploded perspective view of an omni foil example. 21 and 21a are barrel-type rollers arranged on the circumference to reduce the resistance in the rotation axis direction. Reference numerals 22 and 22a denote frames, and reference numeral 23 denotes a rotation axis of the omni-wheel, which intersects at right angles with the center of a regular polygonal surface having the rotation axis of the barrel type rollers 21 and 21a as a side. The omni wheel shown in FIG. 2 has a two-layer wheel structure integrated with the rotary shaft 23 shifted by 60 degrees, but may have a one-layer structure with three barrel-type rollers 21. The number of barrel type rollers may be three or more.

The omni wheels 2a, 2b, 2c are respectively connected to gear reducers built in the motors 3a, 3b, 3c by respective rotating shafts 23, and are driven at high speed at a predetermined speed reduced by each motor. 6 if each rotation axis is horizontal
Any one of the barrel-type rollers contacts the ground, and at the contact point, the omni-wheel provides a circumferential motor driving force to the environment. Even if an external force is to be applied in the direction of the rotation axis, the omni wheel moves freely in the direction of the rotation axis due to idling of the rollers, so that the force becomes zero. That is, it can be moved with little resistance by an external force. The amount of rotational displacement of the motors 3a, 3b, 3c is measured by a detector such as a rotary encoder provided on the side opposite to the gear reducer.

A force feedback mouse (hereinafter referred to as a mouse) is grounded at three points with three omni wheels. Assuming that there is no slip at the ground contact point, a linear relationship is established between the translation and rotation speed (or minute displacement) of the mouse reference point and the rotation speeds of the three motors. By calculating the translation and rotation speed of the reference point of the mouse from the rotation speed of each motor measured using this relationship, the information processing system can operate the cursor and the like with the mouse on the display screen of the information processing device. Can be.

On the other hand, a linear function is also established between the rotational force of the three omni wheels, the translational force (two components in the X and Y axes) and the rotational force (the θ direction component) at the reference point of the mouse.
Using this linear transformation, the necessary torque of each motor is calculated from each component of the force reaction calculated by the information processing device,
By driving each motor with this torque, a translational force (two components in the X and Y-axis directions) and a rotational force (a component in the θ direction) corresponding to the force reaction component can be presented to the user with a mouse.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the structure of the mouse main body of FIG. 1 as viewed from the back side. 31 is a slit disk attached to the motor shaft, 32 is a light emitting diode (LED), 33
Is a photocell, and these constitute a rotary encoder. 34 is a motor support, 35 is an HLS satellite IC, 36 is a mouse body frame, and 37 is a switch 4
Reference numeral 38 denotes ON / OFF switch information signals of a, 4b, and 4c, and a detection UP / DOWN rotation pulse signal (rotary encoder signal) of each omni wheel system.

The three omni wheels 2a, 2b, 2c are arranged at an angle of 120 degrees to each other, and each omni wheel is connected to the motor shaft 23 via a gear reducer of each motor. In the rotation system of the omni wheel, the motor and the rotary encoder, the rotary encoder is disposed on the center side and the omni wheel is disposed on the outside. The drive voltage 11 sent from the controller 5 is applied to the input terminal of the motor.

FIG. 4 shows a functional diagram of the controller 5. 51 is a microcomputer, 52 is
HLS center IC, 53 a D / A converter, 54 a drive voltage for supplying a drive voltage to each of the motors 3a, 3b, 3c
Reference numeral 55 denotes an omni-wheel rotation signal and a switch information signal.

The controller 5 may be built in the mouse main body 1, but is separately provided to reduce the weight of the mouse and improve operability. Since the connection cable 6 (or the connection cable for transmitting the serial communication signal 12) is flexible, the mouse of the present invention can be operated without being limited to the movable range, like a mouse for a general personal computer.

The output light of the light emitting diode (LED) 32 passes through the slit of the slit disk 31 rotating at the motor speed, and generates an UP pulse (positive pulse) and a DOWN pulse (negative pulse) proportional to the rotation of the motor. Generated at the output side of the photocell 33. The UP / DOWN pulse is counted by an UP / DOWN counter incorporated in the HLS satellite IC 34, and a rotational displacement signal of each omni wheel is generated.

The mouse switches 4a, 4b, and 4c generate ON-OFF information such as menu selection, position selection, and operation by clicking, double-clicking, and dragging in the same manner as a normal mouse, and are input to the HLS satellite IC 35. The switch information signal and the rotation pulse count signal (rotational displacement amount signal) are combined into a one-channel serial signal 10 by the HLS satellite IC 34 and transmitted to the controller 5. (Note that the same reference numerals in the drawings of this specification denote the same or corresponding components.)

The HLS center IC 52 is a satellite IC.
The serial information 10 sent from the controller 35 is restored, the switch information and the rotational displacement of the omni wheel are obtained, and sent to the microcomputer 51. Next, the microcomputer 51 calculates the displacement of the position and orientation (rotation) of the mouse reference point from the rotational displacement of each omni wheel based on the linear expression of the following equation (1), and serially calculates the displacement along with the switch information. The communication signal 12 is transmitted to the computer 8.

[0023]

(Equation 1)

In Equation (1), ΔX, ΔY, and Δθ are translation and rotation movement amounts of the mouse reference point, Δθ1, Δθ2, and Δθ3 are rotation displacement amounts of the omni wheels 2c, 2b, and 2a, r is the radius of the omni wheel, and R is It is the distance from the reference point of the mouse to the ground contact point (the definition of each amount is shown in FIG. 5 when the driving system is viewed from above. The arrow in the omni-wheel block in FIG. 5 indicates the direction of rotation of the omni-wheel above. .).

In the case of the omni-foil structure shown in FIG. 2, the ground point of the omni-foil varies between the inner roller and the outer roller and the ground point, but the distance from the reference point of the mouse of the formula (1) to the ground point is determined. R is the average value. This causes small errors, but the human perception is not very sensitive,
Further, there is no practical problem in a system in which the user makes an input while looking at the display device and presents force feedback to the user.

The components selected by the switch information signal 37 in the virtual space of the display screen 8a of the computer 8 are the displacement amounts ΔX, ΔY, Δ corresponding to the translation and rotation operation amounts of the mouse 1.
Moved corresponding to θ. The computer 8 also simulates and outputs the reaction resulting from the fluctuation of the simulation according to the real environment.

A microcomputer (microcomputer) 51 receives a force vector signal and a rotational force signal for presenting a force sensation to the user from the computer 8 through the serial I / O communication signal 12, and obtains a linear expression of the following expression (2). From these signal amounts, the torque of each of the motors 3a, 3b, 3c is calculated. However, T1, T2, T3 are motors 3c, 3b,
2a torque, Fx, Fy, M are the X axis generated by the mouse,
Y-axis component force and rotational force, r is the radius of the omni foil,
R is the distance from the mouse reference point to the ground point (in the case of using the omni-foil structure of FIG. 2, the average value of the inner and outer ground points as described above). Next, the microcomputer 51
Calculates the drive voltage 11 corresponding to the torque output of each motor, drives each motor 3a, 3b, 3c on the mouse body through the D / A converter 53 and the drive amplifier 54,
The user is presented with a force sensation in the translation direction (force vector direction) and the rotation direction with the mouse.

[0028]

(Equation 2)

Next, an example in which the input / output device of the present invention is applied to the teaching of a computer of a robot will be described. The system processed by the computer is an operation system in which the position and orientation of the robot is operated by a mouse and, when there is interference with a wall, a reaction force is fed back. FIG. 6 shows a virtual environment displayed on a display device of a computer. 71
Is a gripping mechanism of the robot, 72 is an object, and 73 is a floor.
The computer-side simulator manages the position (grasping mechanism 71) of the robot based on the switch information and the displacement information from the mouse.

Also, assuming that the walls and floor are made of an elastic material, the distance between them is always calculated, and when a bite occurs in the wall or floor, the computer calculates a reaction force proportional to the amount of bite. And output to the mouse. In this operation system, when the robot is in free space, the bite is zero, so that the position (X, Y) and posture (θ) of the robot can be simultaneously operated with a light touch without force feedback.
On the other hand, when the robot contacts the wall or floor, a reaction force is generated,
You can feel as if the robot is hitting a wall.

Since the object 72 held by the robot is a rectangular parallelepiped, the reaction force received by the robot can be easily calculated as the resultant force of FA and FB in FIG. In FIG. 6, since the rectangular parallelepiped and the floor are in contact with each other with a line segment, when a rotation about the Y axis is input, a rotational force around the same axis is fed back. With this function, the position and orientation of the robot can be determined using the constraint, and there is an effect that the operator does not need to perform fine position adjustment.

Further, an example in which the input / output device of the present invention is applied to a personal computer game machine will be described. Translate and rotate objects on the display screen, such as tennis games, downhill rotation ski games, car racing games, etc., with three degrees of freedom of rotation operation. The force reaction component when the object on the screen comes into contact is also translated and rotated. In some games this is convenient.

FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically showing an example of a tennis game machine. 81 is a game machine main body, 82 is a display device, 83
Reference numerals a and 83b denote a three-degree-of-freedom mouse operated by the player according to the present invention; 84, a tennis court; 85, a tennis ball;
a and 86b are rackets of the player. For example, the player translates the mouse 83a in accordance with the position where the tennis ball 85 comes, moves the racket 86a (ΔX, ΔY) to a position corresponding to the center position of the racket 86a, and rotates the mouse 83a to move the racket 86a. Rotate (Δθ) and hit the tennis ball 85. Calculate the impact sound and reaction force at that time with a personal computer in the game machine body,
When sound is generated by the speaker and the mouse 83a is presented with a force such as a reaction force (M) in the rotational direction, the player can feel more realistic.

In the above application example of the present invention, the force reaction generated in the virtual space is a reaction force. Therefore, the torque of the driving device driven by the force feedback to the input / output device is opposite to the rotational force of the omni wheel. The user is presented with a sense of resistance. When the force reaction is in the same direction as the omni wheel (yacht tailwind, water flow reaction), the torque of the driving device driven by the force feedback presents a force sensation to the user in the same direction as the omni wheel rotational force.

[0035]

According to the force presenting method using the omnidirectional moving mechanism, the following input / output device, which has been impossible in the past, can be realized. (1) Two degrees of freedom for translation and one degree of rotation are available for a total of three degrees of freedom. (2) A force feedback mouse having the same operation method as a mouse for a personal computer can be obtained. (3) The operation range can be expanded by operating the computer with the ground surface separated as in the case of a mouse for a personal computer.

When the input / output device of the present invention is applied to an operation system, the following effects can be obtained. (1) Operation of industrial robot using virtual space model
When used for motion teaching, operability can be performed with the same feeling as in the real environment by feeding back to the operator the force generated by the contact between the robot and the working environment or the like, so that the operation efficiency is improved. (2) In the operation of the simulation screen of the game machine, force feedback can be presented to the operator on the collision force, contact force, and the like generated on the simulation screen, so that the sense of reality can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an example of a force feedback input / output device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the omni wheel of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view of the structure of the mouse main body of FIG. 1 as viewed from the back.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating functions of a controller.

FIG. 5 is a diagram defining an amount related to a drive system of an omnidirectional moving mechanism wheel.

FIG. 6 is an example in which the present invention is applied to a robot operation.

FIG. 7 is an example in which the present invention is applied to a tennis game machine.

FIG. 8 is a photograph illustrating an example of a conventional force feedback joystick.

FIG. 9 is a photograph illustrating an example of a conventional force feedback mouse.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mouse main body 2a-2c Omni wheel 3a-3c Geared motor 5 Controller 6 Connection cable 7 I / O device 8 Computer 8a Display device 31 Slit disk 32 Light emitting diode (LED) 33 Photocell

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 3/033 B25J 13/02 A63F 13/06

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An omnidirectional moving mechanism using wheels near zero friction in which the input / output device main body reliably transmits a propulsive force in a circumferential direction on a ground contact surface and does not transmit a force in a vertical direction, that is, a rotational axis direction. A wheel rotation detecting means connected to each wheel drive system of the omnidirectional moving mechanism; a driving device connected to each wheel drive system of the omnidirectional moving mechanism; and each of the wheels detected by the wheel rotation detecting means. The rotation is converted into a translational movement amount and a rotational movement amount of the input / output device, transmitted to the information processing device, the translational force and the rotational force from the information processing device are converted into the driving force of each wheel, and the A force feedback input / output device, comprising: a controller for supplying a drive voltage to the drive device. 2. The force feedback input / output device according to claim 1, wherein the wheels of the omnidirectional moving mechanism according to claim 1 are a plurality of omni wheels each having a barrel type roller arranged on an outer periphery.