A haptic prototype for the simulations of aeronautics mounting/unmounting operations

The paper presents a haptic simulator that was developed to study the possibilities offered by the haptic feedback in the field of the simulations of aeronautics mounting/unmounting operations. This prototype proposes a method to simulate forces and torques with a 3-DOF haptic interface, when manipulating virtual objects. The rotations and translations are treated separately. An interaction paradigm called the "Virtual Haptic Sphere" is used to make up for the lack of torque feedback, and enable the operator to feel the collisions as if he/she is manipulating an "actuated" trackball with force feedback. A simplified haptic rendering is set up to send back the shocks. The final platform proposes different functionalities which have been informally evaluated by Airbus France engineers. They approved the concept of the haptic feedback which could make up for the gaps in current simulation tools.