Haptic telemanipulation of soft environment without direct force feedback

Haptic exploration of remote object plays an important role in teleoperation system. This paper proposes a novel method to realize the softness display for telemanipulation of soft environment without direct force feedback, which is based on stiffness control of elastic element and damp control of magnetic field. This method can produce softness sensation with wide range from very soft to hard to the human fingertip. And a new control structure for hapticly telemanipulating the soft environment by using the softness display devices is presented, which send dynamics parameters of soft environment identified on line back to the master site instead of direct force feedback. The parameters are used to control the softness display, which can let human operator feel the softness of remote environment when his fingertip jiggles the button of the softness display device.