Multi-mode soft haptic thimble for haptic augmented reality based application of texture overlaying

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

This paper presents a novel thimble-shape haptic display for multi-mode tactile feedback at fingertips. The device has two special characteristics. Multi-mode feedback, i.e., static pressure, high-frequency vibration, and impact force, can be generated via a single actuator mechanism of a pneumatic chamber controlled by high-speed valves. Additionally, the actuator's softness makes this device a “feel-through” tactile display where the user simultaneously feels responses from a real object and synthetic feedback. This makes the device a fit for haptic augmented reality-based display where real and virtual touch feedback is merged into single feedback that haptically “augments” the real world. A layered combination of flexible and non-flexible silicone membrane surrounds the air- cavity for desired efficiency, and systematic valve control algorithms are developed for rich haptic effects. The experiments confirmed that the system generated a static force up to 7 N, acceleration magnitude up to 1.4 G, and frequency up to 250 Hz. The device exhibits two realistic tactile signals, i.e., virtual textures and button clicks, based on real signals and a physical surface that are augmented with two haptic signals.The user studies revealed that the participants found the virtually overlaid textures and buttons to be perceptually similar to their real counterparts.

Original languageEnglish
Article number102272
JournalDisplays
Volume74
ISSN0141-9382
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sep 2022
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was supported in part by the Preventive Safety Service Technology Development Program funded by the Korean Ministry of Interior and Safety under Grant 2019-MOIS34-001 and in part by the MSIT(Ministry of Science and ICT), Korea, under the ITRC(Information Technology Research Center) support program(IITP-2022-RS-2022-00156354) supervised by the IITP.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.

    Research areas

  • Actuator, Feel-through, Haptic Display, Haptics interface, Multi-mode, Soft Actuator, Soft haptics, Tactile display

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