Force reflection in a pneumatic artificial muscle actuated haptic system

This paper presents a systematic technique guideline for a haptic-enabled device driven by a pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM) actuator. The proposed haptic system that can serve as a simulator or rehabilitation device was built with a steel string fixed at one end and the other end connected to a control stick. While operating the control stick, a force reflection to the human user can be experienced by human tactile sensation or kinesthetic sensation. To improve the realism presence of the haptic force, three haptic control architectures have been considered for the force feedback features. The corresponding adaptive fuzzy sliding mode controllers were then designed to compensate for the structure and parametric uncertainties to enhance the fidelity feeling of the reflection force. Maneuver tests were conducted for the proposed haptic architectures and controllers. Comparisons were made through the force tracking results.