21 research outputs found

    Haptic Interactions with Virtual Reality

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    Many possible systems exist that could benefit from Haptic Interactions, the communication of forces between a user and a system. Robotic assisted rehabilitation, interactive Virtual Reality media, and Telerobotics are some examples. However, due to simplified interactions methods, high costs, and lack of application development tools, Haptic Interaction with Virtual Reality has not reached its full potential. As a solution towards these problems, the team created a development platform Haptic Interaction System, capable of supplying Haptic Interactions between a user and hosted simulated environment and objects, along with the tools to enhance the system and develop applications based on Haptic Interactions

    Docking Haptics: Extending the Reach of Haptics by Dynamic Combinations of Grounded and Worn Devices

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    Grounded haptic devices can provide a variety of forces but have limited working volumes. Wearable haptic devices operate over a large volume but are relatively restricted in the types of stimuli they can generate. We propose the concept of docking haptics, in which different types of haptic devices are dynamically docked at run time. This creates a hybrid system, where the potential feedback depends on the user's location. We show a prototype docking haptic workspace, combining a grounded six degree-of-freedom force feedback arm with a hand exoskeleton. We are able to create the sensation of weight on the hand when it is within reach of the grounded device, but away from the grounded device, hand-referenced force feedback is still available. A user study demonstrates that users can successfully discriminate weight when using docking haptics, but not with the exoskeleton alone. Such hybrid systems would be able to change configuration further, for example docking two grounded devices to a hand in order to deliver twice the force, or extend the working volume. We suggest that the docking haptics concept can thus extend the practical utility of haptics in user interfaces

    Conception et validation expérimentale d’un gant haptique alimenté par des actionneurs magnétorhéologiques pour la manipulation d’objets dans un environnement virtuel

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    En réalité virtuelle (VR), les systèmes haptiques sont en mesure de fournir un retour de force à l’utilisateur pour des applications de jeux et d’entrainement (simulation). Les interfaces haptiques pour la main sont limitées par les technologies d’actionnement d’aujourd’hui. En effet, la vaste majorité des systèmes robotiques est actionnée par des moteurs DC couplés à un ratio de démultiplication (« gearbox »). Ces systèmes font face à un compromis inévitable entre la densité de couple et la réponse dynamique. De récentes recherches ont démontrées que les embrayages magnétorhéologiques (MR) couplées à une source de puissance (ex : moteur DC) sont une alternative prometteuse pour l’obtention d’une haute réponse dynamique à un coût moindre. Jusqu’à présent, la technologie MR n’a pas été démontrée pour des systèmes robotiques ayant de multiple (6 et +) degrés-de-liberté (ddls). Ce mémoire a pour but d’étudier le potentiel de la technologie des embrayages MR pour des applications d’interfaces haptiques VR pour la main. D’abord, les requis de conception sont établis par la littérature. Ensuite, un système haptique complet permettant aux utilisateurs de manipuler des objets virtuels a été développé basé sur un actionnement à tendons alimentés par des embrayages MR (« tendon-driven manipulator powered by MR actuators », TDM-MR). Ce système haptique utilise un actionnent à configuration semi-distribuée qui permet à deux moteurs DC, couplés à un ratio de démultiplication, de fournir la puissance nécessaire pour alimenter 10 embrayages MR actionnant 7 ddls. Ce système haptique a d’ailleurs été testé expérimentalement. Les résultats démontrent d’excellentes réponses dynamiques, de hautes forces générées et une tolérance aux impacts. Pour finir, un jeu VR consistant à démonter la performance du prototype auprès de 10 utilisateurs a été développé et très bien reçu par ceux-ci

    Development of a Tactile Thimble for Augmented and Virtual Reality Applications

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    The technologies that have gained a renewed interest during the recent years are Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), as they become more accessible and affordable for mass-production. The input device which allows us to interact with the virtual environment is a very crucial aspect. One of the main barriers to immerse ourselves in virtual reality is the lack of realistic feedback. The user has to almost rely entirely on visual feedback without any haptic feedback, and this increases the user's workload and decreases the performance. In this thesis, a functional demonstrator of a tactile feedback device which conveys compelling interactions with not just VR, but also AR is presented. The device is designed such that there is realistic feedback for virtual touches and least obstruction during contact of a real object in AR applications. New design principle of introducing small actuators allows the device to be compact and increases its portability. In contrast to actuators that are placed on the finger pad in most of the available input devices for VR, a tactile device with two actuators that are arranged laterally on the finger, so that the underside of the fingertip is free is proposed. The output from these actuators generate a tactile stimulus by stimulating a sense of touch, which helps the user to manipulate virtual objects. The actuators are designed to independently generate vibrations and this coupled tactile feedback enhances the stimulation resulting in a wide variety of stimulation patterns for the sense of touch. Preliminary experimental evaluation for design and location of actuators has been carried out to measure the vibration intensity. In addition, user experiments for design evaluation of the two actuators based on different vibration patterns have also been conducted

    Playful haptic environment for engaging visually impaired learners with geometric shapes

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    This thesis asserts that modern developments in technology have not been used as extensively as they could to aid blind people in their learning objectives. The same could also be said of many aspects of other areas of their lives. In particular in many countries blind students are discouraged from learning mathematics because of the intrinsically visual nature of many of the topics and particularly geometry. For many young people mathematics is also not a subject that is easily or willingly tackled. The research presented here has thus sort to answer whether a playful haptic environment could be developed which would be attractive to blind users to learn and interact with geometric concepts. In the study a software tool using a haptic interface was developed with certain playful characteristics. The environment developed sought to give the blind users practice in interacting with three dimensional geometric shapes and the investigation of the size of these shapes and their cross-section. The playful elements were enhanced by adding elements of competition such as scores and time limits which promote competition between the users. The tests have shown that blind users can easily use the system to learn about three dimensional shapes and that practice increases their confidence in recognising shape and size of these objects

    Wearable and IoT technologies application for physical rehabilitation

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    This research consists in the development an IoT Physical Rehabilitation solution based on wearable devices, combining a set of smart gloves and smart headband for use in natural interactions with a set of VR therapeutic serious games developed on the Unity 3D gaming platform. The system permits to perform training sessions for hands and fingers motor rehabilitation. Data acquisition is performed by Arduino Nano Microcontroller computation platform with ADC connected to the analog measurement channels materialized by piezo-resistive force sensors and connected to an IMU module via I2C. Data communication is performed using the Bluetooth wireless communication protocol. The smart headband, designed to be used as a first- person-controller in game scenes, will be responsible for collecting the patient's head rotation value, this parameter will be used as the player's avatar head rotation value, approaching the user and the virtual environment in a semi-immersive way. The acquired data are stored and processed on a remote server, which will help the physiotherapist to evaluate the patients' performance around the different physical activities during a rehabilitation session, using a Mobile Application developed for the configuration of games and visualization of results. The use of serious games allows a patient with motor impairments to perform exercises in a highly interactive and non-intrusive way, based on different scenarios of Virtual Reality, contributing to increase the motivation during the rehabilitation process. The system allows to perform an unlimited number of training sessions, making possible to visualize historical values and compare the results of the different performed sessions, for objective evolution of rehabilitation outcome. Some metrics associated with upper limb exercises were also considered to characterize the patient’s movement during the session.Este trabalho de pesquisa consiste no desenvolvimento de uma solução de Reabilitação Física IoT baseada em dispositivos de vestuário, combinando um conjunto de luvas inteligentes e uma fita-de-cabeça inteligente para utilização em interações naturais com um conjunto de jogos terapêuticos sérios de Realidade Virtual desenvolvidos na plataforma de jogos Unity 3D. O sistema permite realizar sessões de treino para reabilitação motora de mãos e dedos. A aquisição de dados é realizada pela plataforma de computação Arduino utilizando um Microcontrolador Nano com ADC (Conversor Analógico-Digital) conectado aos canais de medição analógicos materializados por sensores de força piezo-resistivos e a um módulo IMU por I2C. A comunicação de dados é realizada usando o protocolo de comunicação sem fio Bluetooth. A fita-de-cabeça inteligente, projetada para ser usada como controlador de primeira pessoa nos cenários de jogo, será responsável por coletar o valor de rotação da cabeça do paciente, esse parâmetro será usado como valor de rotação da cabeça do avatar do jogador, aproximando o utilizador e o ambiente virtual de forma semi-imersiva. Os dados adquiridos são armazenados e processados num servidor remoto, o que ajudará o fisioterapeuta a avaliar o desempenho dos pacientes em diferentes atividades físicas durante uma sessão de reabilitação, utilizando uma Aplicação Móvel desenvolvido para configuração de jogos e visualização de resultados. A utilização de jogos sérios permite que um paciente com deficiências motoras realize exercícios de forma altamente interativa e não intrusiva, com base em diferentes cenários de Realidade Virtual, contribuindo para aumentar a motivação durante o processo de reabilitação. O sistema permite realizar um número ilimitado de sessões de treinamento, possibilitando visualizar valores históricos e comparar os resultados das diferentes sessões realizadas, para a evolução objetiva do resultado da reabilitação. Algumas métricas associadas aos exercícios dos membros superiores também foram consideradas para caracterizar o movimento do paciente durante a sessão

    The workload implications of haptic displays in multi-display environments such as the cockpit: Dual-task interference of within-sense haptic inputs (tactile/proprioceptive) and between-sense inputs (tactile/proprioceptive/auditory/visual)

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    Visual workload demand within the cockpit is reaching saturation, whereas the haptic sense (proprioceptive and tactile sensation) is relatively untapped, despite studies suggesting the benefits of haptic displays. MRT suggests that inputs from haptic displays will not interfere with inputs from visual or auditory displays. MRT is based on the premise that multisensory integration occurs only after unisensory processing. However, recent neuroscientific findings suggest that the distinction between unisensory versus multisensory processing is much more blurred than previously thought. This programme of work had the following two research objectives: 1. To examine whether multiple haptic inputs can be processed at the same time without performance decrement - Study One 2. To examine whether haptic inputs can be processed at the same time as visual or auditory inputs without performance decrement - Study Two In Study One participants performed dual-tasks, consisting of same-sense tasks (tactile or proprioceptive) or different-sense tasks (tactile and proprioceptive). These tasks also varied in terms of processing code, in line with MRT. The results found significantly more performance decrement for the same-sense dual-tasks than for the different-sense dual-tasks, in accordance with MRT, suggesting that performance will suffer if two haptic displays of the same type are used concurrently. An adjustment to the MRT model is suggested to incorporate these results. In Study Two, participants performed different-sense dual-tasks, consisting of auditory or visual tasks with tactile or proprioceptive tasks. The tasks also varied in terms of processing code. Contrary to MRT, the results found that when processing code was different, there was significant performance decrement for all of the dual-tasks, but not when processing code was the same. These results reveal an exception to two key MRT rules, the sensory resource rule and the processing code rule. It is suggested that MRT may be oversimplistic and other factors highlighted by recent neuroscientific research should be taken into account in theories of dual-task performance

    Playful haptic environment for engaging visually impaired learners with geometric shapes

    Get PDF
    This thesis asserts that modern developments in technology have not been used as extensively as they could to aid blind people in their learning objectives. The same could also be said of many aspects of other areas of their lives. In particular in many countries blind students are discouraged from learning mathematics because of the intrinsically visual nature of many of the topics and particularly geometry. For many young people mathematics is also not a subject that is easily or willingly tackled. The research presented here has thus sort to answer whether a playful haptic environment could be developed which would be attractive to blind users to learn and interact with geometric concepts. In the study a software tool using a haptic interface was developed with certain playful characteristics. The environment developed sought to give the blind users practice in interacting with three dimensional geometric shapes and the investigation of the size of these shapes and their cross-section. The playful elements were enhanced by adding elements of competition such as scores and time limits which promote competition between the users. The tests have shown that blind users can easily use the system to learn about three dimensional shapes and that practice increases their confidence in recognising shape and size of these objects

    The workload implications of haptic displays in multi-display environments such as the cockpit : dual-task interference of within-sense haptic inputs (tactile/proprioceptive) and between-sense inputs (tactile/proprioceptive/auditory/visual)

    Get PDF
    Visual workload demand within the cockpit is reaching saturation, whereas the haptic sense (proprioceptive and tactile sensation) is relatively untapped, despite studies suggesting the benefits of haptic displays. MRT suggests that inputs from haptic displays will not interfere with inputs from visual or auditory displays. MRT is based on the premise that multisensory integration occurs only after unisensory processing. However, recent neuroscientific findings suggest that the distinction between unisensory versus multisensory processing is much more blurred than previously thought. This programme of work had the following two research objectives: 1. To examine whether multiple haptic inputs can be processed at the same time without performance decrement - Study One 2. To examine whether haptic inputs can be processed at the same time as visual or auditory inputs without performance decrement - Study Two In Study One participants performed dual-tasks, consisting of same-sense tasks (tactile or proprioceptive) or different-sense tasks (tactile and proprioceptive). These tasks also varied in terms of processing code, in line with MRT. The results found significantly more performance decrement for the same-sense dual-tasks than for the different-sense dual-tasks, in accordance with MRT, suggesting that performance will suffer if two haptic displays of the same type are used concurrently. An adjustment to the MRT model is suggested to incorporate these results. In Study Two, participants performed different-sense dual-tasks, consisting of auditory or visual tasks with tactile or proprioceptive tasks. The tasks also varied in terms of processing code. Contrary to MRT, the results found that when processing code was different, there was significant performance decrement for all of the dual-tasks, but not when processing code was the same. These results reveal an exception to two key MRT rules, the sensory resource rule and the processing code rule. It is suggested that MRT may be oversimplistic and other factors highlighted by recent neuroscientific research should be taken into account in theories of dual-task performance.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
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