Patent ID: 7889170
Filing Date: 2011-02-15
Classification: G06F,G10H

Abstract:
1. A force feedback apparatus comprising: a jetting unit that includes nozzles and that is configured to control a jet amount or a jet direction of gas or liquid jetted from the nozzles; and a jet control unit configured to control the jet amount or the jet direction of the gas or the liquid according to a position or an orientation of a receiver that has a hemispheric shape and that is configured to receive a pressure by the gas or the liquid jetted from the jetting unit so as to provide force feedback to an operator, wherein the position or the orientation of the receiver is measured by a receiver measurement unit, the nozzles are arranged in equilateral triangles in the jetting unit, and when the receiver has a concave shape of a diameter D, intervals for placing each of the nozzles in the jetting unit are set such that at least one nozzle exists within a region having a diameter of 0.8×D to exert an even pressure on the receiver at nozzle transitions, the receiver is separated from a surface on which the nozzles that form the equilateral triangles are arranged, and the gas or the liquid is jetted towards the receiver from the nozzles that form the equilateral triangles.