Meanwhile, it can adjust each sensation 1,000 times a second. Learning by feel, a doctor practices a procedure on a simulator from Medtronic. Along with firmware and a transmission, sensors and actuators, the microcontroller resides in the input device, where it limits the demand placed on the host computer. While some sensations depend on the high-level signal from the host computer, others, such as the simulation of a spring, respond directly to movement of the joystick or knob. Meanwhile, the microcontroller reports handle position to the host.
Actuators are motors.
For the most part, the motors Immersion deploys in its haptic devices make few revolutions. Instead, they increase the torque on the handle or knob, responding to a command for additional current by the microcontroller. This increases the resistance a user feels. Like actuators, transmissions can vary between applications. Be they belts, cables, or gears, the transmissions link actuators and handles, delivering the feedback force from actuator to handle and on to the user.