Design of a Parallel Continuum Manipulator for 6-DOF Fingertip Haptic Display

Despite rapid advancements in the field of fingertip haptics, rendering tactile cues with six degrees of freedom (6 DOF) remains an elusive challenge. In this paper, we investigate the potential of displaying fingertip haptic sensations with a 6-DOF parallel continuum manipulator (PCM) that mounts to the user's index finger and moves a contact platform around the fingertip. Compared to traditional mechanisms composed of rigid links and discrete joints, PCMs have the potential to be strong, dexterous, and compact, but they are also more complicated to design. We define the design space of 6-DOF parallel continuum manipulators and outline a process for refining such a device for fingertip haptic applications. Following extensive simulation, we obtain 12 designs that meet our specifications, construct a manually actuated prototype of one such design, and evaluate the simulation's ability to accurately predict the prototype's motion. Finally, we demonstrate the range of deliverable fingertip tactile cues, including a normal force into the finger and shear forces tangent to the finger at three extreme points on the boundary of the fingertip.