Modular weight-balanced mechanical tracker for portable haptics

This paper describes the design, the development and the tests of an innovative 6 degrees of freedom (DoFs) mechanical tracker. The new device has a modular structure that exploits three mechanical units each composed of two rotational joints and allows to scale the usable workspace by substituting the connecting links. The sensing principle for the joint angles measurement is based on an innovative hall-effect angle sensor with high resolution, developed and conceived for low cost applications. The system that has been realized and tested is conceived for the tracking of portable haptic devices. Furthermore, the system includes a weight balancing system that allows to exploit the mechanical structure of the tracker for balancing a given weight located at the end-effector of the device.