Patent ID: 8881616

Claim:
A high degree of freedom control actuator, comprising: a base structure; an XYZ stage mounted to the base structure and including a support structure linearly movable in three orthogonal directions provide three degrees of freedom relative to the base structure, the XYZ stage providing at least one signal or value indicative of the position of the support structure relative to the base structure in the three degrees of freedom corresponding to the three orthogonal directions; and an actuation assembly supported on the XYZ stage and movable by at least one of an operator's arm, hand, digit, and wrist relative to the XYZ stage to provide at least four additional degrees of freedom relative to the base structure, the actuation assembly operative to provide at least one signal or value indicative of the position of at least one of the operator's arm, hand, digit and wrist in the at least four additional degrees of freedom relative to the base structure, the actuation assembly comprising a wrist angle stage pivotal about a first one of three orthogonal directions relative to the XYZ stage by operator hand, forearm or wrist motion, the wrist angle stage providing at least one signal or value indicative of the pivotal position of the wrist angle stage relative to the XYZ stage with respect to rotation about the first one of the three orthogonal directions; the actuation assembly comprising a digit angle stage, the digit angle stage comprising: a first digit actuator movable by operator finger flexion relative to the wrist angle stage, the digit angle stage providing a first signal or value indicative of the position of the first digit actuator relative to the wrist angle stage, and a second digit actuator having a thumb paddle conformed to the operator's thumb and pivotal about a first axis relative to the digit angle stage by operator thumb flexion, the digit angle stage providing a second signal or value indicative of a pivotal position of the thumb paddle about the first axis through operator thumb flexion relative to the wrist angle stage, the thumb paddle being pivotal about a second axis, the digit angle stage providing a third signal or value indicative of a pivotal position of the thumb paddle about the second axis through operator thumb rotation relative to the wrist angle stage, the second axis being spaced from the first axis, and the second axis being orthogonal to the first axis.