Patent ID: 7466303

Claim:
An apparatus and software for manipulating real and virtual objects in three-dimensional space, comprising: a mechanical armature, comprising: a surface and a stylus movably connected to mechanical linkages and rotational joints so that the stylus and surface may have a location and orientation with six degrees-of-freedom; a sensor at each rotational joint to determine the location and orientation, of the mechanical linkages and rotational joints; a motor at each rotational joint to rotate the joint and move the mechanical linkage; a computer for receiving, sending, and processing the location and orientation information from each sensor; an output mode whereby the motors change the location and orientation of each rotational joint, if required, to move the surface and the stylus to a programmed location and orientation so that the armature provides a physical representation of a virtual object; an input mode whereby an operator moves the stylus, the sensors provide the location and orientation of each rotational joint to the computer, and the computer displays a two-dimensional representation of the armature.