Contactless Haptic Display Through Magnetic Field Control

Haptic rendering enables people to touch, perceive, and manipulate virtual objects in a virtual environment. Using six cascaded identical hollow disk electromagnets and a small permanent magnet attached to an operator's finger, this paper proposes and develops an untethered haptic interface through magnetic field control. The concentric hole inside the six cascaded electromagnets provides the workspace, where the 3D position of the permanent magnet is tracked with a Microsoft Kinect sensor. The driving currents of six cascaded electromagnets are calculated in real-time for generating the desired magnetic force. Offline data from an FEA (finite element analysis) based simulation, determines the relationship between the magnetic force, the driving currents, and the position of the permanent magnet. A set of experiments including the virtual object recognition experiment, the virtual surface identification experiment, and the user perception evaluation experiment were conducted to demonstrate the proposed system, where Microsoft HoloLens holographic glasses are used for visual rendering. The proposed magnetic haptic display leads to an untethered and non-contact interface for natural haptic rendering applications, which overcomes the constraints of mechanical linkages in tool-based traditional haptic devices

Electromagnetic Position Sensing and Force Feedback for a Magnetic Stylus with an Interactive Display

This letter describes the design, implementation, validation, and demonstration of an electromagnetic system that can be incorporated into a graphical display to provide computer-controlled planar feedback forces on the tip of a stylus or fingertip-mounted magnet held near the display surface, according to the magnet position and virtual fixtures implemented in software. An array of magnetometer sensors is used to detect the position of the magnet, while a pair of box-shaped coils behind the display produces feedback forces on the stylus parallel to the plane of the display. Electromagnetic analysis for the system design is presented and system implementation is described. Validation results are given for force generation within a 100 mm × 100 mm area and force interaction with a virtual obstacle is demonstrated

Mid-Air tangible interaction enabled by computer controlled magnetic levitation

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-86).This thesis presents a concept of mid-air tangible interaction and a system called ZeroN that was developed to enable this interaction. Through this research, I extend the tabletop tangible interaction modalities which have been confined to 2D surfaces into 3D space above the surface. Users are invited to place and move a levitated object in the mid-air space, which is analogous to placing objects on 2D surfaces. For example, users can place a physical object that represents the sun above physical objects to cast digital shadows, or place a planet that will start revolving based on simulated physical conditions. To achieve these interaction scenarios, we developed ZeroN, a new tangible interface element that can be levitated and moved freely by computer in a three dimensional space. In doing so, ZeroN serves as a tangible representation of a 3D coordinate of the virtual world through which users can see, feel, and control computation. Our technological development includes a magnetic and mechanical control system that can levitate and actuate a permanent magnet in 3D space. This is combined with an optical tracking and display system that projects images on the levitating object. In this thesis, I present interaction techniques and applications developed in the context of this system. Finally, I discuss initial observations and implications, and outline future development and challenges.by Jinha Lee.S.M

Haptic-GeoZui3D: Exploring the Use of Haptics in AUV Path Planning

We have developed a desktop virtual reality system that we call Haptic-GeoZui3D, which brings together 3D user interaction and visualization to provide a compelling environment for AUV path planning. A key component in our system is the PHANTOM haptic device (SensAble Technologies, Inc.), which affords a sense of touch and force feedback – haptics – to provide cues and constraints to guide the user’s interaction. This paper describes our system, and how we use haptics to significantly augment our ability to lay out a vehicle path. We show how our system works well for quickly defining simple waypoint-towaypoint (e.g. transit) path segments, and illustrate how it could be used in specifying more complex, highly segmented (e.g. lawnmower survey) paths

DataLev: Mid-air Data Physicalisation Using Acoustic Levitation

Data physicalisation is a technique that encodes data through the geometric and material properties of an artefact, allowing users to engage with data in a more immersive and multi-sensory way. However, current methods of data physicalisation are limited in terms of their reconfgurability and the types of materials that can be used. Acoustophoresis—a method of suspending and manipulating materials using sound waves—ofers a promising solution to these challenges. In this paper, we present DataLev, a design space and platform for creating reconfgurable, multimodal data physicalisations with enriched materiality using acoustophoresis. We demonstrate the capabilities of DataLev through eight examples and evaluate its performance in terms of reconfgurability and materiality. Our work ofers a new approach to data physicalisation, enabling designers to create more dynamic, engaging, and expressive artefacts

Point-and-shake: selecting from levitating object displays

Acoustic levitation enables a radical new type of humancomputer interface composed of small levitating objects. For the first time, we investigate the selection of such objects, an important part of interaction with a levitating object display. We present Point-and-Shake, a mid-air pointing interaction for selecting levitating objects, with feedback given through object movement. We describe the implementation of this technique and present two user studies that evaluate it. The first study found that users could accurately (96%) and quickly (4.1s) select objects by pointing at them. The second study found that users were able to accurately (95%) and quickly (3s) select occluded objects. These results show that Point-and- Shake is an effective way of initiating interaction with levitating object displays

Integration of the hybrid-structure haptic interface: HIPHAD v1.0

Design, manufacturing, integration and initial test results of the 6-DoF haptic interface, HIPHAD v1.0, are presented in this paper. The hybrid haptic robot mechanism is composed of a 3-DoF parallel platform manipulator, R-Cube, for translational motions and a 3-DoF serial wrist mechanism for monitoring the rotational motions of the handle. The device is capable of displaying point-type of contact since only the R-Cube mechanism is actuated. The dimensions and the orientation of the R-Cube mechanism are reconfigured to comply with the requirements of the haptic system design criteria. The system has several advantages such as relatively trivial kinematical analysis, compactness and high stiffness. The integration of the system along with its mechanism, data acquisition card (DAQ), motor drivers, motors, position sensors, and computer control interface are outlined.Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant within the 7th European Community Framework Programm