PASSIVITY OF A CLASS OF SAMPLED-DATA SYSTEMS - APPLICATION TO HAPTIC INTERFACES

Passivity of systems comprising a continuous time plant and discrete t ime controller is considered. This topic is motivated by stability con siderations arising in the control of robots and force-reflecting huma n interfaces (''haptic interfaces''). Necessary conditions for passivi ty are found via a small gain condition, and sufficient conditions are found via an application of Parseval's theorem and a sequence of freq uency domain manipulations. An example - implementation of a ''virtual wall'' via a one degree-of-freedom haptic interface - is given and di scussed in some detail. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.