New tools for haptic devices to debut at conference

A new package for expanding the capabilities of the Phantom 1.5 platform for haptic research and development is set to debut at the upcoming 2005 World Haptics Conference in Pisa, Italy. Quanser Phantom Expansion Kit, or QPEK, is a comprehensive, open-architecture system from Quanser Inc . Phantom product line of haptic devices from SensAble Technologies makes it possible for users to touch and manipulate virtual objects.

Features of QPEK include a Q8 HIL control board, a Phantom/Q8 terminal board, full kinematics SDK, and QStudioRP, Quanser’s rapid control prototyping environment, which gives users direct access to encoder measurements and motor current commands. QPEK delivers full control of a Phantom device over Matlab/Simulink, National Instruments LabView, or custom, real-time control programs.

Those who use a Phantom can now “expand their work in many new, exciting ways,” said Paul Gilbert, Quanser CEO. “So much more can now be done with existing Phantom equipment without modification.”

A haptic interface is a device that permits interaction with a computer through tactile feed back. Among the applications of 3-D interfaces such as the Phantom is remote control of robotics in hazardous environments. 2-D devices let users feel a graphical user interface by providing resistance to textures in computer images.

World Haptics is the first conference of its kind and is based on the impact and experience of previous EuroHaptics and Haptics Symposium conferences. It runs March 18-20, 2005, and is intended to give scientists, developers, and practitioners an opportunity to gather and to boost progress in haptics. Click here for more on the conference .

—Jeanine Katzel, senior editor, Control Engineering, jkatzel@reedbusiness.com

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