Performance trade-offs for hand controller design

Realistic specifications are developed for hand controller mechanical and control design, based on limitations of human operator motion and perception capabilities observed in initial experimental studies. A representative dynamic model is used to develop expressions for the limits on closed loop hand controller impedance. Specific trade-offs are derived between mechanical design options and control design options for achieving realistic performance specifications. Implications of these trade-offs in designing “ideal-equivalent” hand controllers are discussed, and applied to a high-performance laboratory hand controller prototype