| 摘要 |
An electro-mechanical transducer for 6 degrees-of-freedom input and output includes a control member coupled to a reference member by pairs of linear transducers. One end of each pair is connected to 3 spaced apart points of the control member, while the other end of each transducer is coupled to 3 spaced apart points of the reference member in a permutation of the first set of connections. The transducer coupling permutation causes each transducer output signal to include components of displacement and rotation such that 6 linear transducers provide a complete definition of the control member orientation in 3-D space. In a specific embodiment each linear transducer includes a linear actuator for inserting force along each connection between the two members. The insertion of force permits the introduction of tactile feel. In another embodiment, restraining means are inserted between the two members such that an application of force exceeding a predetermined threshold must be applied to the control member to change its position or orientation with respect to the reference member. The linear actuators are employed for this purpose. The present implementation has the advantages of simplicity, low cost, ease of manufacture, simple arithmetic transformations, a single type of linear transducer, that is easy to manufacture, and that can accommodate a linear motor for adding tactile feedback.
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