PROJECTS

ALL PROJECTS CONSUMER & COMPUTER INDUSTRIAL & COMMERCIAL SCIENTIFIC & MEDICAL ROBOTICS & MOTION CONTROL DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING
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PHANTOM® Omni™ Force Feedback Joystick Acquisition Engine for Hand-held X-Ray Ambient Dashboard BigDog Quadruped Robot Control Board Sports Medicine Testing and Rehabilitation Systems Prototype Bicycle Power Meter Display Reader for the Blind Faxview: A Pocket-Sized Fax Machine RF Power Amplifier Predistortion Engine RedXDefense iModule Miniature USB Camera Brushless DC Motor Driver Retrofit 128 Line High Reliability Hot Swap Phone Switch Lottery Ticket Vending Machines Molecular Characterization Detector Tera Ohm Meter Low-Cost Audio Micro Ohm Meter Bi-Pedal Research Robot Laser Diode Driver DVI Video Development Board LittleDog Robot Military Standard 1275D Power Supply PCI Motion Control Interface PCI 4DI Imaging System Medical Cosmetic Laser Image Processor Fingerprint ID System Production Test System for Zeo Personal Sleep Coach Black-I Landshark Ground Vehicle Robot Blackfin Stamplet Board and TCP/IP Engine Board Tester Canoe Controller for the Handicapped Combination CO-Smoke Detector Force-Feedback Joystick Controller Daedalus Human-Powered Aircraft Wastewater Sludge Detector Touch Panel and Display Interface Thermal Imaging Camera Synthesized Sine Wave Generator Steganographic Audio Processor Quadrature Encoder Phased Array Microphone Pharmaceutical Vending Machine Personal Relaxation Device Lung Impedance Analyzer Laser Hair Removal Speed Sensor
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PDF Force-Feedback Joystick Controller

System Overview

Bolton Engineering worked with the client, an industrial design firm, and a mechanical design firm to specify critical design parameters and write a specification. Instead of using the company’s PC-based control card (also designed by Bolton Engineering), Bolton Engineering recommended interfacing to the PC via the industry standard Extended Parallel Port (EPP).

  • Three 100 Watt PWM motor controllers.
  • Three high-resolution encoder inputs with overspeed error detection.
  • Three 12-bit A/D interfaces to potentiometer position sensors Integral 1mS system timer
  • Interfaces to standard PC Extended Parallel Port (EPP).
  • All digital electronics implemented in a single Intel/Altera Flex-series Field Programmable Gate Array
  • Uses “off-the-shelf” external power supply.
  • Over-current detection and shut-off.
  • Created connector junction boards to simplify internal wiring and reduce assembly time.
  • Designed to meet FCC part 15 class B; EN 55022 class B; IEC 1000-4-2, -3, -4; EN 60950

Results

  • Product delivered on time, for critical show.
  • Use of EPP interface allowed product to work with laptops, and with Sun workstations.
  • “Pass-through” EPP interface allowed two joysticks to operate off of one computer.
  • Electronics met or exceeded all design goals, and came in 40% under budgeted cost.
  • System won Computer Graphics World ‘s “Best New Product Award.”

Project Scope

Bolton Engineering was responsible for writing the specification, creating schematics, writing and simulating the FPGA, laying out the circuit board layout, testing, writing documentation, and ensuring regulatory approvals.

Force-Feedback Joystick Controller

SensAble Technologies had built a high power force-feedback (Haptic) joystick for several years. They wanted to produce a moderate-cost desktop version in time for an upcoming show.