Haptic devices with multi-finger input are highly desirable in providing realistic and natural feelings when interacting with the remote or virtual environment. Compared with the conventional actuators, MR (Magneto-rheological) actuators are preferable options in haptics because of larger passive torque and torque-volume ratios. Among the existing haptic MR actuators, most of them are still bulky and heavy. If they were smaller and lighter, they would become more suitable for haptics. In this paper, a small-scale yet powerful MR actuator was designed to build a multi-finger interface for the 6 DOF haptic device. The compact structure was achieved by adopting the multi-disc configuration. Based on this configuration, the MR actuator can generate the maximum torque of 480 N.mm with dimensions of only 36 mm diameter and 18 mm height. Performance evaluation showed that it can exhibit a relatively high dynamic range and good response characteristics when compared with some other haptic MR actuators. The multi-finger interface is equipped with three MR actuators and can provide up to 8 N passive force to the thumb, index and middle fingers, respectively. An application example was used to demonstrate the effectiveness and potential of this new MR actuator based interface.
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