Initial Reaction to Visual and Haptic feedback

The TCP position and the collision points with the voxel object and STL/TRI object do not match. The collisions occur and forces can be rendered, but it seems to be a scaling issue or an error in the matrix transformations.

Observation

The program removes voxels from the voxel shell when collisions occur. It also renders a force when a collision occurs between the cursor and the STL/TRI object.

I observed that trying to remove voxels was difficult without forcefeedback. The drilling device is attached to the haptic device and is proving difficult to maneuver. The tool is not a free moving device and is restricted. It also moves easier along certain axes.

The TCP seems easier to swing left to right along the XZ plane. This can provide stability but it often results in a path that is circular rather then linear. Moving directly in one direction is difficult.

Today I included the force feedback when a collision occurs with the voxel object. This immediately increased my ability to stay in contact with the voxel object. As stated before, the virtual tooltip was not in contact with the voxel object when collisions occured. In a sense I could only tell if a collision occured if I removed voxels. Based on that knowledge I would try to remove neighboring voxels. This was not trivial. What this suggests is that the haptic feedback maybe as important as visual feedback.

Next Step

Resolve the issue of difference between visual and haptic collision points
Move Voxel object and use Matrix math to get TCP to voxel coordinate system
Move STL/TRI object inside of Voxel object. This should be only one Transformation
Enhance viewing; angle, position, mobility
Move octree implementation from stlViewer to Prototype

SOON TESTING!