On the Simulation of Soft Finger Contact Model with Rolling in Haptics

Computation of contact point trajectories and forces exchanged between two bodies in contact are relevant to several disciplines. The solutions proposed in the literature are often too complex to be implemented in real time simulations, especially if rolling effects are considered. In this paper an algorithm for fast simulation of soft-finger contact model with rolling effects is proposed. The main idea is to use Euler angle decomposition algorithm to quantitatively describe the torque exchanged about the normal at the contact point and the motion of the contact point due to rolling. The proposed algorithm is validated with simulations and a preliminary application to Haptics is proposed. This approach has been exploited in haptic rendering, but can be easily extended to other applications requiring real-time computation, e. g. multi-body modelling of robotic hand grasps.