Reliable Haptic System for Collision-free 5-axis Tool Path Generation

This paper presents a collision-free 5-axis tool path generation system that uses a haptic device to perform reliable man-machine interactions. The system is based on commercial haptic devices which can provide 3 degrees of freedom (DOF) force feedback and 6 DOF posture sensing. The system achieves three main functions: (1) a rendering conversion that uses 3 DOF force feedback haptic representation instead of the 5 DOF real world requirements; (2) an efficient force feedback design that helps get accurate results directly from the user’s manipulation; and (3) a reduction of user’s operation workload by providing heuristic leading forces. The system faithfully represents the real milling machining procedure both graphically and haptically. No matter an expert or not, the user is able to use the presented interactive system to conveniently plan and design collision-free 5-axis tool paths.