HAPTAC: A Haptic Tactile Display for the Presentation of Two-Dimensional Virtualor Remote Environments

摘要

This report describes the development of a tactile display device that allows theuser to see (feel) a two-dimensional computer-generated surface with his or her fingertip. The user places a fingertip on a tactile feedback array composed of pins that rise through a touch plate. The feedback array, affixed to a position-sensing mouse on a digitizer pad, slides across the digitizer pad surface when pushed by the user. As the mouse indicates the changing position of the fingertip, pins in the array rise and fall to simulate a virtual surface underneath the user's fingertip. The pins of the tactile feedback arrays used for this device are driven by shape-memory alloy (SMA) wires that contract when heated by electric current. The low bandwidth of these actuators prevents the user from moving across the virtual surface more than a few centimeters per second, but next-generation actuators with higher bandwidths should improve upon this performance. Applications include tactile perception research, teleoperation, virtual reality, aids for the blind, etc.