Control of an actuated car door providing outstanding haptic interaction

Actuated car doors are a promising way to increase the convenience of access to cars. In this paper, an advanced door concept which can easily be integrated into conventional car doors is presented. Using a linear, non-backdrivable actuator and various sensors, both automatic and manual door operations can be realized. The principal part is the realization of a high-quality haptic interaction of the car door for the manual operation. We implemented and tested four different impedance control schemes, of which impedance control with actuator force feedback performed best. This control scheme was subsequently used to haptically render different supportive dynamics and effects. An experimental evaluation with 16 participants revealed a predominant approval of the haptic sensation of the actuated car door.