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A workspace expansion controller for human interface systems is provided. The controller resolves the physical workspace constraint by relocating the physical workspace of the device mapped inside the environment (virtual or robot) towards the area of interest of the operator without disturbing his or her perception of the environment. The controller is based on the fact that people are greatly influenced by what they perceive visually and often do not notice small deviations in their hand unless that small deviation has a corresponding visual component. With this new control approach the operator can explore much larger workspaces without losing spatial resolution through high scaling factors and thus avoid the drawbacks of indexing common with current approaches.

Inventors: Francois Conti, Oussama Khatib
Original Assignee: The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
Primary Examiner: Ricardo L Osorio
Attorney: Lumen Patent Firm
Current U.S. Classification: 345/156; 345/157

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Citations

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Claims

1. A human interface system, comprising:

(a) a human interface device with a physical workspace and an end-effector movable in said physical workspace;

(b) a computer system having a graphical display defining a virtual workspace, said computer system connected to said human interface device and said end-effector capable of controlling a graphical object on said graphical display within said virtual workspace; and

(c) a drift controller for adding drift to the position of said graphical object, wherein said drift controller adds said drift in a direction away from a defined point in said virtual workspace and wherein the amount of said added drift is defined as the product of the instant velocity of said end-effector and the offset position of said end-effector from a defined point of origin within said physical workspace.

2. The human interface system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said added drift is below 5 m/s with respect to said physical workspace.

3. The human interface system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the amount of said added drift is further multiplied by a constant.

4. The human interface system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said instant velocity is to the power of n, or where a function is applied to said instant velocity.

5. The human interface system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said offset is to the power m, or where a function is applied to said offset.

6. The human interface system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said added drift is an imperceptible drift to the user operating said end-effector.

7. The human interface system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said added drift does not disturb the perception of the graphical object within said virtual workspace.

8. The human interface system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said defined point in said virtual workspace is the center of said virtual workspace.

9. The human interface system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said defined point or origin of said physical workspace is the center of said physical workspace.

10. The human interface system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said human interface system is a haptic system, and wherein said human interface device is a haptic device.

11. A workspace expansion system for a tracking device, comprising:

(a) an input tracking device movable within a physical workspace;

(b) a computer system having a graphical display defining a virtual workspace, said computer system connected to said input tracking device and said input tracking device capable of controlling a graphical object on said graphical display within said virtual workspace; and

(c) a drift controller for adding drift to the position of said graphical object, wherein said drift controller adds said drift in a direction away from a defined point in said virtual workspace and wherein the amount of said added drift is defined as the product of the instant velocity of said input tracking device and the offset position of said input tracking device from a defined point of origin within said physical workspace.

12. The workspace expansion system as set forth in claim 11, wherein said added drift is below 5 m/s with respect to said physical workspace.

13. The workspace expansion system as set forth in claim 11, wherein the amount of said added drift is further multiplied by a constant.

14. The workspace expansion system as set forth in claim 11, wherein said instant velocity is to the power of n, or where a function is applied to said instant velocity.

15. The workspace expansion system as set forth in claim 11, wherein said offset is to the power m, or where a function is applied to said offset.

16. The workspace expansion system as set forth in claim 11, wherein said added drift is an imperceptible drift to the user operating said end-effector.

17. The workspace expansion system as set forth in claim 11, wherein said added drift does not disturb the perception of the graphical object within said virtual workspace.

18. The workspace expansion system as set forth in claim 11, wherein said defined point in said virtual workspace is the center of said virtual workspace.

19. A method for expanding a workspace in a human interface system, comprising:

(a) providing a human interface device with a physical workspace and an input device movable in said physical workspace;

(b) providing a system having a workspace, said system connected to said human interface device and said input device capable of controlling one or more objects or control points on said system within said workspace; and

(c) adding drift to the position of said one or more graphical objects or said one or more control points, wherein said drift controller adds said drift in a direction away from a defined point in said workspace and wherein the amount of said added drift is defined as the product of the instant velocity of said input device and the offset position of said input device from a defined point of origin within said physical workspace.

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