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Virtual Reality (VR) allows simulation of machine control panels without physical access to the machine, enabling easier and faster initial exploration, testing, and validation of machine panel designs. However, haptic feedback is indispensable if we want to interact with these simulated panels in a realistic manner. We present HapticPanel, an encountered-type haptic system that provides realistic haptic feedback for machine control panels in VR. To ensure a realistic manipulation of input elements, the user’s hand is continuously tracked during interaction with the virtual interface. Based on which virtual element the user intends to manipulate, a motorized panel with stepper motors moves a corresponding physical input element in front of the user’s hand, enabling realistic physical interaction.

Part 4: Tools and Tool-Support; International audience; Collaborative robot-assisted production has great potential for high variety low volume production lines. These type of production lines are common in both personal fabrication settings as well as in several types of flexible production lines. Moreover, many assembly tasks are in fact hard to complete by a single user or a single robot, and benefit greatly from a fluent collaboration between both. However, programming such systems is cumbersome, given the wide variation of tasks and the complexity of instructing a robot how it should move and operate in collaboration with a human user.In this paper we explore the case of collaborative assembly for personal fabrication. Based on a CAD model of the envisioned product, our software analyzes how this can be composed from a set of standardized pieces and suggests a series of collaborative assembly steps to complete the product. The proposed tool removes the need for the end-user to perform additional programming of the robot. We use a low-cost robot setup that is accessible and usable for typical personal fabrication activities in Fab Labs and Makerspaces. Participants in a first experimental study testified that our approach leads to a fluent collaborative assembly process. Based on this preliminary evaluation, we present next steps and potential implications.