HAPTIC TECHNOLOGY

Introduction
• Haptic technology, or haptics, is a tactile feedback technology which
takes advantage of the sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations, or
motions to the user.

• Haptics are enabled by actuators that apply forces to the skin for touch
feedback, and controllers. The actuator provides mechanical motion in
response to an electrical stimulus.

• Haptic technology does for the sense of touch what computer graphics
does for vision.
 Why it is called Haptic ?
• The word haptic, from the Greek word haptikos, means pertaining to
the sense of touch and comes from the Greek verb haptesthai,
meaning to contact or to touch.

• Touch can result in many different physiological reactions.

• Of the five senses, touch is the most proficient and the only one
capable of simultaneous input and output.
 Generation of haptic
• First generation – use of electromagnetic technologies which produce a
limited range of sensations

• Second generation - touch-coordinate specific responses allowing the haptic

effects to be localized to the position on a screen or touch panel, rather than
the whole device

• Third generation - delivers both touch-coordinate specific responses and

customizable haptic effects

• Fourth generation - pressure sensitivity, i.e. how hard you press on a flat
surface can affect the response
Building blocks of a haptic system
 Haptic Information
Basically the haptic information provided by the system is the
Combination of :

Tactile Information
It refers the information acquired by the sensors which are actually
connected to the skin of the human body.

Kinesthetic Information
It refers to the information acquired through the sensors in the joints.
 Virtual reality
• Haptic technology allows creating computer-generated Haptic Virtual
Objects (HVOs), which can be touched and manipulated with one's
hands or body.

• HVOs provide a rich combination of cutaneous and kinesthetic

stimulation through a bidirectional haptic (touch) information flow
between HVOs and human users.

• HVOs can have many of the real-object mechanical properties such as

weight and shape of objects, object elasticity, object's surface texture
(e.g., smooth or rough), etc.
 HVO creation
• HVOs are created through force fields (or "force-feedback"), generated
by computer-controlled mechanical systems called Haptic Interfaces
(HIs).

• An HI delivers the force-feedback to a person's hands or body. This

reproduces major aspects of what actually happens when touching real,
everyday objects.
 How it works (example)
• A person uses the manipulandum to "poke" an HVO (dashed surface).

• HI's sensors measure the current position of the manipulandum's tip.

• A Control Computer (CC) monitors this position and detects the “collision"
of the manipulandum's tip with the HVO.

• CC calculates a simulated contact force from a model (e.g., equations) of the

real interaction's physics.

• The CC activates the HI's actuators (e.g., electric motors) which, in combination with HI mechanics, produce
an actual physical force that is applied into the manipulandum's tip.

• This force physically realizes the simulated contact force.

• Different manipulandums can be used to interact with HVOs, e.g., tools resembling thimbles (for fingertip
insertion), scissors (e.g., for surgical simulation), hand exoskeletons, etc.
 Haptic Rendering

• The software-controlled Haptic Virtual Objects(HVO)creation process

is called Haptic Rendering (HR).

• The Control Computer (CC)executes HR events (collision detection,

force calculation and generation when necessary) at a high rate(one
kHz or more).
Cont..

Haptic rendering consists of three main blocks.

• Collision-detection algorithms
• Force-response algorithms
• Control algorithms  
 Types of Haptic devices

Virtual reality/ Telerobotics based devices

• Exoskeletons and stationary devices

• Gloves and wearable devices
• Point sources and specific task devices
• Locomotion interfaces

Feedback devices

• Force feedback devices

• Tactile display devices
 Phantom omni® haptic device
• Provides a 3D touch to the virtual objects.

• Six degree-of-freedom positional sensing.

• When the user move his finger, then

he could really feel the shape and size
of the virtual 3D object that
has been already programmed.

• Virtual 3D space in which the phantom operates is called haptic scene.

 CyberGrasp

With the CyberGrasp force feedback system, users are able to feel the
size and shape of computer-generated 3D objects in a simulated virtual
world.

• Force: 12 N per finger (max, continuous)

• Interface: Ethernet
• Allows 4 dof for each finger
• Adapted to different size of the fingers
 Maglev Haptics
• Consists of two bowl shape objects, powered by electromagnets.

• A joystick floats around with a tracking sensor that

relays its position back to a Linux Fedora-
powered computer.

• Users could interact with 3D shapes using

the joysticks.

• Moving the shapes back and forth between each hand, getting feedback
of the collision, and a feel for the volume and weight of the objects.
 Commercial applications
• Tactile electronic displays
• Teleoperators and simulators - Medical simulators and flight
simulators for pilot training.
• Video games - commonly used in arcade games, especially racing
video games
• Personal computers - Tactile Touchpad
• Mobile devices -  vibration response to touch
• Virtual reality - 3D modeling and design
 Research
Medicine
• Useful for training in minimally invasive procedures & for performing
remote surgery.
• Detection of medical problems via touch
• To provide essential feedback from a prosthetic limb to its wearer.
• Investigating fundamental issues and determining effectiveness for
rehabilitation
Cont..
Robotics
• Convincing artificial humanoid (The Shadow Project)
• NASA's humanoid robots, or robonauts
• Virtual reality through touch
Arts and design
• Virtual arts, such as sound synthesis or graphic design and animation.
• Real-time sound or images
• Physical modelling synthesis
 Future applications
Holographic interaction
The feedback allows the user to interact with a hologram and receive
tactile responses as if the holographic object were real.
Future medical applications
• Telepresence surgery.
• Noise-based devices, such as randomly vibrating insoles, could also
ameliorate age-related impairments in balance control.
• "spider-sense" bodysuit, equipped with ultrasonic sensors and haptic
feedback systems, which alerts the wearer of incoming threats;
allowing them to respond to attackers even when blindfolded.
 Advantages
• Working time is reduced.

• Communication is centered through touch and the digital world can

behave like the real world.

• Increase confidence in medical field.

• With haptic hardware and software designer can feel the result as if
he/she were handling physical objects.
 Disadvantages
• Higher cost.

• Large weight & size.

• From point of algorithm, output is not saturate.

• The precision of touch require a lots of advance design.

 Conclusion
• Touch plays a huge role in the way we perceive our surroundings and also
how we interact with them.
• Haptics technologies have come a long way in bringing this technology
into reality.
• Currently it is limited to consumers.
• Future generations of mobile devices and game console accessories will
implement more haptic feedback.
• Increasing applications of haptics the cost of the haptic devices will drop
in future.
• This technology brings us one step closer to virtual world.