Dextrous exploration of a virtual world for improved prototyping

The capability of visualising and touching models of new products or new environments is a key factor in the design to production process. Usually this requires the construction of a physical model of the environment but production of the model can be costly and time consuming. Use of CAD packages can assist with the visualisation process, but proprioceptive and tactile sensations are required to augment this and provide the opportunity to feel the object. This work shows design, construction and testing in a virtual world of a generic 18 DOF proprioceptive input and feedback exoskeleton to monitor the motions of the human arm from sternum/spine to wrist and feedback tactile sensation generated during contact within a virtual world. The design is light, comfortable, and easy to wear for long periods providing an almost complete, unhampered range of input options. The proprioceptive inputs are augmented by tactile feedback of contact pressure (8 sensation points) to the upper and lower arm segments and pressure, texture, slip, edges/ridges/corners and thermal parameters to the hand. The paper shows how the input/feedback exoskeleton can be used to explore CAD designs generated in a commercial package (AutoCad) and imparted directly into a virtual world (WorldToolKit) permitting testing of products/processes before production and thereby improving the design-production process through the enhanced used of concurrent engineering techniques