A Design of Haptic Hand Exoskeleton for Virtual Reality Applications

The paper presents a mechanical design for a haptic hand exoskeleton that can be employed in delivering sensation to a fingertip of an operator while he interacts with virtual objects in the computer simulation. The linkage structure of the device is designed according to the skeletal characteristics of a human finger, which allows it to create the normal force on the fingertip while natural movements of fingers are maintained. Moreover, motion range of the designed hand exoskeleton is carefully calculated to guarantee full capacity of human fingers. Evaluation of the design, where its kinematic structure and force transmission were analysed, shows effectiveness of the proposed device.