JPH063465A - Input apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain better operability and practical applicability at a low cost with a less weight by using an electroconductive gel, a resistance value of which varies with the deformation thereof, as an operation detection sensor. CONSTITUTION:An electroconductive gel 2 having an electroconductive filler dispered and mixed in a gel is applied on a joint part of a glove 1. Each one pair of electrodes 3, 4 and 5 is inserted into the gel 2 separately on the sides of a belly, a back and a side and an ammeter 6 is connected to each of electrodes. A hand is put into the glove 1 and when fingers are bent, the gel 2 on the side of the belly compresses and an electric resistance lowers according to a compression thereof to increase current between the electrodes 3. On the other hand, the gel 2 on the side of the back expands and the the electric resistance increases according to an expansion thereof to reduce the current between the electrodes 4. When the fibers are extended, the gel 2 compressed or expanded returns to the original state and the current between the electrodes 3 and the electrodes 4 returns to an initial value. The gel 2 on the side of the side compresses or expands slightly according to the direction of pointing and the current between the electrodes 5 changes according to the respective values of the compression and expansion. Actions of the fingers can be duplicated detecting a finger bending value, direction and the like by observing such a current change.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an input device suitable as a data glove or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, research is being conducted to create and use a virtual world (virtual space) by a computer. The virtual space is created by creating a three-dimensional world with a model and making full use of a display device and a sound device so that the world exists around the user.

Various use forms are considered in this virtual space, and people in remote areas gathered together in combination with a simulator that can be trained by a simulated experience to drive a car or fly an airplane, and a high-speed communication network. Typical examples are a tele-communications system that allows users to have meetings and work with such a feeling, and tele-gistance combined with remote control of robots.

By the way, as a technique for creating a virtual space by a computer, a highly realistic display technique and an efficient input technique are important.

Here, existing input devices that can be used to generate a virtual space include a mouse and a joystick. The mouse has a sensor unit that detects the amount of movement of itself, and is, for example, one that moves on a plane and inputs the amount of movement to a computer to move a pointer on the screen. The joystick is a handle-like operation that moves the pointer on the screen vertically and horizontally.

However, these input devices are for inputting only the two-dimensional movement information of the pointer on the display, and as input devices used for generating the virtual space, when they are attached to a hand and operate, the operation is performed. Is desirable, and the image can be directly manipulated by using the three-dimensional information.

Therefore, as an input device that meets such a demand, a data glove has been developed by VPL and the Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of Industrial Science and Technology. The data glove manufactured by VPL Co., Ltd. has optical fibers wired along each finger of a glove-shaped operation unit. In this data glove, the bending angle of each finger is obtained from the amount of light attenuation that changes when the finger is bent, and the shape of the hand is detected.

The data glove of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of Industrial Science and Technology, has a current displacement sensor with a thickness of about 2 mm attached to the side surface of the finger. When the finger of the glove bends, the resistance value of the current displacement sensor is increased. Changes, which causes the motion of the hand to be detected.

[0009]

However, the above-mentioned data globe is not practical because the optical fiber or the current displacement sensor, which is a sensor, is expensive. Moreover, in the data glove using the current displacement sensor, the current displacement sensor is heavy, so that the operability is low, and a long time operation may cause a feeling of fatigue.

Therefore, the present invention has been proposed in view of such a conventional situation, and an object thereof is to provide an input device which is lightweight, excellent in operability, and inexpensive in parts.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the input device of the present invention has a motion detecting sensor made of a conductive gel whose resistance value changes by deformation, and detects by this motion detecting sensor. It is characterized by inputting the selected operation information to a computer.

Further, the conductive gel is characterized in that it is formed by dispersing and mixing a conductive filler in silicon rubber.

[0013]

In the input device of the present invention, the conductive gel is used as the motion detecting sensor. The conductive gel is a gel in which a conductive filler is dispersed and mixed, and is lightweight and inexpensive. Therefore, by using such a conductive gel as a motion detection sensor, the operability and versatility of the input device are improved.

[0014]

EXAMPLES Specific examples of the present invention will be described based on experimental results. The input device of the present invention is worn on at least a part of the body such as a data glove or a data suit,
It is applied to an input device that detects the operation and inputs it to a computer. In the present invention, in such an input device, a conductive gel is used as a motion detection sensor in order to obtain operability and practicality. The conductive gel is made by dispersing and mixing fine particles (filler) of highly conductive metal or carbon into the gel, and is lightweight and inexpensive. Therefore, by using such a conductive gel as a motion detecting sensor, the operability and versatility of the input device are improved.

When the conductive gel is compressed, its electrical resistance value changes according to the amount of compressive displacement. For example, the density of the conductive filler increases due to compression, and the electrical resistance decreases, or when the conductive filler is spherical, the electrical resistance temporarily decreases according to the amount of compressive displacement, and when the amount of compressive displacement increases, the electrical resistance decreases. Resistance increases. With such a property, it can function as a motion detection sensor.

The operation of the input device using the conductive gel whose resistance value decreases as the amount of compressive displacement increases as the operation detecting sensor will be described below. FIG. 1 shows the input device. In this input device, the conductive gel 2 is applied to the joints of the glove 1. As shown in FIG. 2, a pair of electrodes 3, 4, 5 are inserted into the conductive gel 2 on the ventral side, the back side, and the side surface side, respectively.
An ammeter 6 for measuring the current value between the electrodes is connected to 4 and 5.

To operate such an input device, a hand is inserted into the glove 1 to operate. First, when the finger is bent as shown in FIG. 3, the conductive gel on the abdominal side is compressed, the electric resistance is reduced corresponding to the amount of compression, and the current between the abdominal electrodes 3 is increased. On the other hand, the conductive gel on the back side expands, the electrical resistance increases corresponding to the amount of expansion, and the current between the back side electrodes 4 decreases. Then, when the finger is extended, the ventral conductive gel in the compressed state and the conductive gel in the extended state on the back side return to the original state, and the current between the electrodes 3 and 4 returns to the initial value accordingly. . The conductive gel on the side surface slightly compresses and expands depending on the direction pointed by the finger, and the current between the side surface electrodes 5 changes according to the amount of compression and the amount of expansion. By observing such a change in current, the bending amount, direction, etc. of the finger are detected, and the motion of the hand is reproduced.

As the conductive gel, it is preferable to use silicon gel. The conductive gel using silicon gel is suitable as a motion detection sensor because the resistance value sharply changes in the normal compression and extension displacement range of the finger. The conductive particles mixed and dispersed in the silicon gel include metallite AgSF44 and metallite AgS.
F14, Ag-coated ceramic hollow balloon such as metallite AgCG (above, Showa Denko KK), NCP-
Ni-coated ceramic hollow balloons such as S1 (manufactured by Nippon Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd.), pitch-based carbon fibers such as Donacarbo S-241, Donacarbo S-242 (manufactured by Dainippon Ink and Chemicals), POG-2, POG-80 (or more , Manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., etc., and conductive titanium oxide such as Tentor BK200 (manufactured by Otsuka Chemical Co., Ltd.). A conductive gel composed of such conductive filler and silicon gel is available, for example, at Suzuki General Works.

Next, the above-mentioned input device was actually manufactured and its motion detection performance was examined. First, a commercially available silicon rubber was mixed with an Ag-coated ceramic hollow balloon (trade name: Metallite AgCG manufactured by Showa Denko KK) as a conductive filler to prepare a conductive gel. The concentration of the conductive filler was set to about several tens of percent.

Next, vinyl gloves were prepared, the hands were inserted into the vinyl gloves, the index finger was extended, and the conductive gel was applied to the portion corresponding to the second joint. After confirming that the conductive gel expands and contracts when the finger is bent and stretched, attach a metal tape that will serve as an electrode to the conductive gel on the ventral side of the finger and connect it to the digital multimeter so that the resistance value can be measured. did.

The data glove thus produced was actually worn on the hand, and the change in resistance value was observed when the index finger was bent and extended. As a result, when the index finger was bent, the gel on the ventral side of the finger was compressed, and the resistance value increased corresponding to the amount of bending of the finger. From this, it was found that the conductive gel functions as a motion detection sensor.

[0022]

As is clear from the above description, since the input device of the present invention uses the conductive gel as the motion detecting sensor, it is lightweight and inexpensive and has good operability and practical use. You can get sex. Therefore,
According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an input device suitable for forming a virtual space.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an input device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an example of electrode mounting of the input device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a state where the input device is mounted and operated.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 ... Conductive gel 3 ... Ventral electrode 4 ... Dorsal electrode 5 ... Side electrode 6 ... Ammeter

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An input device comprising a motion detection sensor made of a conductive gel whose resistance value changes by deformation, and inputting motion information detected by this motion detection sensor to a computer. 2. An input device characterized in that the conductive gel is one in which a conductive filler is dispersed and mixed in silicon rubber.