The Haply Project
Project Description and Repositories
Haply is an open-source project that aims at developing a portfolio of haptic hardware and software that is accessible to students, makers, hobbyists and researchers. The first products in this portfolio is the Haply development board. The Haply board encapsulates all the electronics needed to do a simple to advanced haptics or robotics project with a capacity of supporting 4 motors and encoders. The board is built based on the powerful and popular Arduino Due architecture. Here you can access the circuit schematics of the Haply board, and the firmware we have developed for the Haply board to communicate with haptic simulations running on a computer via the native USB port.
Based on the Haply board, we have developed a simple 2D and a 3D haptic devices called Haplet 2D and Haplet 3D. The term haplet combines the words haptics and tablet as the haplet 2D is probably the first open-source, portable and affordable haptic device that clips on a tablet or computer screen and brings depicted virtual worlds to life by providing real haptic feedback. The following videos show the Haplet 2D in action:
Mechatronics Workshop
The Haply project provides valuable tools for educational and pedagogical purposes. In the Winter 2016 term, we taught a 10-hour Mechatronics Workshop at McGill University using our Haplet kits. The workshop covered a vast array of topics including low-level microcontroller programming, mechanism theory, design for 3D printing and rapid prototyping, high-level programming in MATLAB and simulation in Simulink. Here is a video showing a haplet built by the students doing the end-of-the-workshop projects.
Here you can access the Course Material which includes powerpoint slides, libraries, Arduino IDE and MATLAB codes, Simulink models, and even CAD files for our minimalistically designed Haplet 2D that works as a guideline for students to design their own robotic arms and motor housings.
Other Resources
Modelling and analysis methods and tools to support mobile robotics design and control
B. Ghotbi, F. González, A. Azimi, J. Kövecses, J. Angeles
Rover modelling and dynamic simulation on soft terrain for planetary exploration
A. Azimi, M. Hirschkorn, B. Ghotbi, F. Gonzalez, J. Kövecses, J. Angeles, P. Radziszewski, M. Teichmann, D. Holz, M. Courchesne, Y. Gonthier, D. Oyama
