AbstructCommercially available modular fixturing systems typically include a lattice of holes with precise spacing and an assortment of precision locating and clamping modules that can be rigidly attached to the lattice. Currently, machinists manually design a suitable arrangement of these modules to hold a given part. This requires expertise and can delay production. Futhermore, a machinist ma...

This paper investigates methods for coupling analytical dynamic models of subcomponents with experimentally derived models in order to predict the response of the combined system, focusing on modal substructuring or Component Mode Synthesis (CMS), the experimental analog to the ubiquitous Craig-Bampton method. While the basic methods for combining experimental and analytical models have been ar...

Modular fixtures are gaining wide use for flexible manufacturing and job shop machining. A modular fixture is an arrangement of fixture elements (fixels) that will locate and securely hold a given part. Typically, a human combines intuition with trial-and-error to design fixtures. In some cases designers are unable to design a fixture with given fixels and must resort to custom tooling. It is p...

We investigate the feasibility of using dielectric spectra to classify hazardous and nonhazardous liquids. The dielectric spectra of several liquids was obtained with a shielded-open coaxial fixture, and we present a new full-wave model for calculating the complex permittivity of liquids using this fixture. Using the measured complex permittivity for each liquid, we examine several classificati...

Previous work has shown that virtual fixtures applied to cooperative manipulation systems improve performance in tracking tasks. However, if a user wishes to move away from the nominal path, the stiffness of the virtual fixture should be adjusted to increase the level of user control. Our experiments show that modifying the stiffness of a soft virtual fixture can improve a user’s performance, m...

An approach to enhance navigation task performance is to integrate sensory guidance (virtual fixtures) into a virtual training system. To evaluate the effects of adding virtual fixtures to skill acquisition, 32 subjects were required to use a PHANToM input device, to transport a virtual object through a computer generated 3-D graphic maze. Subjects practiced navigation under 4 conditions: the m...