DIY force joystick

Описание: Design, development and testing of a two-axis mechanical force sensor (force joystick) using strain gauge. The joystick can be used to steer and control medical devices such as surgical robots. By pushing the stick along the X and Y axis proportionate output signals are generated.
The actual sensor is a cross-shaped structure made of Aluminium. The cross-shaped structure acts as a 2D force sensing mechanism which consists of four straight beams. A rigid rod perpendicular to the cross-shaped structure is connected to the centre of cross. When the force is applied on the tip of the rod the bending moment will cause a deformation on the beams. Four strain gauged are attached to four sensing beams to measure the deformation.
The system consists of two separate half bridges (Wheatstone bridge). Two opposite strain gauges in X direction form the first Wheatstone bridge and two opposite strain gauges in Y direction make the second bridge. A HX711 (HX711 is a precision 24-bit analogue to digital converter) is used for each bridge. The HX711s are connected to the microcontroller (Arduino Nano 3.0 Board with ATmega328) and the signals are plotted in Matlab in real-time from the serial port.
#Arduino #Matlab #Strain_gauge #Plot #Force #Measurement #Joystick #DIY #Loadcell #Design #CAD #FEA #Fusion360 #Sensor #Transducer #Nano #HX711 #Realtime #Straingauge