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Haptics

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Haptics or Tactile feedback is a technology that produces the sense of touch through physical stimulation. The term comes from the Greek word "haptikos," meaning "able to touch or grasp." Haptics can improve the user's immersion in a VR world. It allows users to experience physical sensations caused by their actions in a virtual environment. When a user picks up a cup in the virtual world, the user should feel the realistic sensations of a cup in his or her hand, even though the cup is not present in the real world.

In traditional video game controllers, "rumble" is often used to produce tactile feedback. However, modern haptic systems in AR and VR environments offer much more sophisticated and nuanced feedback mechanisms.

History of Haptics

The study of haptics has origins dating back to the 1950s when engineers began researching mechanical manipulators for handling hazardous materials.[1] The term "haptics" was first officially adopted into the field of human-computer interaction during the early 1990s.

Early haptic interfaces for computing appeared in the 1970s with the development of force-feedback systems at research institutions like the University of North Carolina and MIT.[2]

In 1997, the release of the Nintendo 64 Rumble Pak marked one of the first mainstream haptic interfaces in consumer electronics, introducing gamers to basic vibrotactile feedback.[3]

The evolution of haptics in VR/AR contexts accelerated in the 2010s with the resurgence of consumer virtual reality technology. Oculus (later acquired by Facebook/Meta) began implementing haptic controllers with their Oculus Touch controllers in 2016, and HTC included similar capabilities in their Vive controllers.[4]

Types of Haptic Technology

Vibrotactile Feedback

Vibrotactile feedback uses vibration to create tactile sensations and is the most common form of haptic feedback in consumer devices. It typically employs eccentric rotating mass (ERM) motors or linear resonant actuators (LRA).[5]

Modern VR controllers like the Meta Quest 2 controllers and Valve Index controllers use vibrotactile feedback to simulate interactions with virtual objects.[6]

Force Feedback

Force feedback systems provide resistance or force to the user, simulating the physical properties of virtual objects. These can include:

Commercial examples include the PHANTOM haptic device (now part of 3D Systems) and Haption's Virtuose systems, which have been used for medical training, industrial design, and scientific visualization.[7]

Electrotactile Stimulation

Electrotactile or electrocutaneous stimulation delivers small electrical currents to stimulate nerves in the skin, creating various tactile sensations. Companies like Teslasuit have incorporated this technology into full-body haptic suits for VR training and gaming.[8]

Thermal Feedback

Thermal feedback systems use Peltier elements or similar technologies to create sensations of heat or cold. These can enhance immersion by simulating temperature changes in virtual environments.[9]

Ultrasonic Haptics

Ultrasonic haptics use focused ultrasound waves to create tactile sensations in mid-air without requiring users to wear or hold any devices. Companies like Ultraleap (formerly Ultrahaptics) have developed systems that allow users to "feel" virtual objects without physical contact.[10]

Pneumatic and Hydraulic Systems

Pneumatic and hydraulic systems use air or fluid pressure to create force feedback. These can be used in gloves, suits, or other wearable devices to simulate touch and pressure.[11]

Mechanical Constraints

Systems using mechanical constraints physically limit user movement to simulate walls, surfaces, or object boundaries. Examples include the CLAW controller by Microsoft Research and EXIII haptic devices.[12]

Force Display Devices

In the SIGGRAPH technology conference, Japanese scientists Tomohiro Amemiya and Hiroaki Gomi demonstrated two Force display devices: Traxion and Buru-Navi3. When held, these devices can cause push and pull sensations while vibrating in place. The force these devices generate is strong enough to guide a blind person.[13]

Buru-Navi3 is a wine-cork sized device that contains a 40-hertz electromagnetic actuator. When held between 2 fingers, it creates a force illusion in towards or away from the user.

Traxion is a similar device developed by Jun Rekimoto. The device also creates a virtual force by asymmetrically vibrating the actuator.

Applications in VR and AR

Gaming and Entertainment

Haptic gaming provides immersive experiences by allowing players to feel virtual environments and objects. Advanced systems like the Teslasuit, bHaptics TactSuit, and Dexmo exoskeleton gloves enable users to feel impacts, textures, and resistance in games.[14]

The PlayStation 5's DualSense controller represents one of the most advanced mainstream haptic controllers, using adaptive triggers and high-fidelity vibrotactile feedback to simulate different surfaces and resistances.[15]

Medical Training and Simulation

Haptic medical simulators allow healthcare professionals to practice procedures without risk to real patients. Systems like 3D Systems' Touch (formerly Sensable Phantom) and FundamentalVR's Fundamental Surgery provide force feedback for surgical training.[16]

Haptic-enabled AR systems allow surgeons to "feel" pre-operative medical images during surgical planning, significantly improving spatial understanding.[17]

Industrial Training and Design

Haptic industrial training allows workers to practice complex or dangerous tasks in virtual environments before performing them in reality. Companies like EON Reality and Serious Labs develop haptic VR training solutions for industries like construction, manufacturing, and oil and gas.[18]

Automotive design companies like BMW and Ford use haptic systems for virtual prototyping, allowing designers to "feel" car interiors and controls before physical prototypes are built.[19]

Accessibility

Haptic accessibility devices help people with visual impairments navigate environments through tactile feedback. Systems like Wayband by WearWorks provide navigation assistance through patterns of vibration.[20]

Tactile communication systems allow deaf-blind individuals to receive communication through haptic patterns, often through gloves or wearable devices on the body.[21]

Telepresence and Teleoperation

Haptic telepresence allows users to remotely "feel" environments through robotic systems. Applications include remote surgical systems, space exploration, and hazardous environment inspection.[22]

Haptic teleoperation enables precise control of robots in delicate or complex tasks by providing operators with tactile feedback from the robot's interactions.[23]

Current Research and Challenges

Miniaturization and Wearability

Research into microfluidic tactile displays and smart materials aims to create thinner, lighter haptic devices that can be comfortably worn for extended periods.[24]

Stretchable electronics and e-textiles are enabling the development of haptic systems integrated directly into clothing or applied to the skin like temporary tattoos.[25]

Haptic Rendering and Algorithms

Haptic rendering is the process of calculating appropriate forces to display to users based on their interactions with virtual objects. Advances in physics simulation and collision detection are improving the realism of haptic interactions.[26]

Research into multi-point haptic rendering addresses limitations of traditional single-point interfaces, allowing users to feel virtual objects with their entire hand or body.[27]

Surface Haptics

Surface haptics research focuses on creating tactile sensations on touchscreens and flat surfaces. Technologies like electroadhesion, ultrasonic friction modulation, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) are enabling touchscreens that can simulate textures and buttons.[28]

Companies like Tanvas and Bosch are developing commercial applications of surface haptics for automotive interfaces, mobile devices, and kiosks.[29]

Neural Interfaces

Research into direct neural stimulation aims to bypass mechanical interfaces entirely, potentially allowing users to feel virtual sensations through direct interaction with the nervous system.[30]

Haptic brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) could potentially create fully immersive tactile experiences without physical haptic hardware, though this research remains in early stages.[31]

Standardization and Interoperability

The haptics industry faces challenges in haptic standardization, with different devices using proprietary formats and protocols. Initiatives like the Haptics Industry Forum are working to establish standards for haptic content creation and playback across platforms.[32]

Haptic codecs like MPEG-V and MPEG-H include provisions for standardized haptic data, though adoption remains limited compared to audio and video standards.[33]

Future Directions

Full-Body Haptic Systems

Full-body haptic systems aim to provide comprehensive tactile feedback across the entire body. Companies like Teslasuit, bHaptics, and Axon VR (now HaptX) are developing suits with hundreds of haptic actuators.[34]

Research into distributed haptic interfaces seeks to optimize the placement and types of actuators to maximize feedback while minimizing cost and weight.[35]

Environmental Haptics

Environmental haptics extends beyond wearable devices to create haptic sensations through the physical environment. Technologies include acoustic radiation pressure, mid-air ultrasonic arrays, and room-scale haptics.[36]

Haptic projectors like those developed by Ultraleap allow multiple users to experience mid-air haptic sensations without wearable devices.[37]

Haptic Content Creation

The development of haptic authoring tools aims to make haptic content creation more accessible to designers without specialized technical knowledge. Platforms like Unity's XR Interaction Toolkit and Unreal Engine's haptic plugins provide frameworks for implementing haptic feedback in VR/AR applications.[38]

Haptic recording technologies allow the capture of real-world tactile experiences for playback in virtual environments, similar to how audio and video are recorded.[39]

Multimodal Integration

Research into cross-modal perception examines how haptic feedback interacts with visual and auditory cues, enabling more efficient and convincing multisensory experiences.[40]

Context-aware haptics adjusts tactile feedback based on environmental factors, user state, and application context to provide more relevant and effective haptic experiences.[41]

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Hannaford, B., & Okamura, A. M. (2016). Haptics. In Springer handbook of robotics (pp. 1063-1084). Springer, Cham.
  2. ↑ Salisbury, K., Conti, F., & Barbagli, F. (2004). Haptic rendering: introductory concepts. IEEE computer graphics and applications, 24(2), 24-32.
  3. ↑ Biggs, S. J., & Srinivasan, M. A. (2002). Haptic interfaces. Handbook of virtual environments, 93-116.
  4. ↑ Burdea, G. C. (2019). Haptic feedback for virtual reality. Virtual reality and augmented reality, 17-30.
  5. ↑ Choi, S., & Kuchenbecker, K. J. (2013). Vibrotactile display: Perception, technology, and applications. Proceedings of the IEEE, 101(9), 2093-2104.
  6. ↑ Benko, H., Holz, C., Sinclair, M., & Ofek, E. (2016, October). Normaltouch and texturetouch: High-fidelity 3d haptic shape rendering on handheld virtual reality controllers. In Proceedings of the 29th Annual Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (pp. 717-728).
  7. ↑ Laycock, S. D., & Day, A. M. (2003). Recent developments and applications of haptic devices. Computer Graphics Forum, 22(2), 117-132.
  8. ↑ Kaczmarek, K. A., Webster, J. G., Bach-y-Rita, P., & Tompkins, W. J. (1991). Electrotactile and vibrotactile displays for sensory substitution systems. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 38(1), 1-16.
  9. ↑ Wilson, G., Halvey, M., Brewster, S. A., & Hughes, S. A. (2011, May). Some like it hot: thermal feedback for mobile devices. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 2555-2564).
  10. ↑ Carter, T., Seah, S. A., Long, B., Drinkwater, B., & Subramanian, S. (2013, October). UltraHaptics: multi-point mid-air haptic feedback for touch surfaces. In Proceedings of the 26th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology (pp. 505-514).
  11. ↑ Burdea, G., Zhuang, J., Roskos, E., Silver, D., & Langrana, N. (1992, April). A portable dextrous master with force feedback. In Proceedings of IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium (pp. 55-62).
  12. ↑ Choi, I., Hawkes, E. W., Christensen, D. L., Ploch, C. J., & Follmer, S. (2016, October). Wolverine: A wearable haptic interface for grasping in virtual reality. In 2016 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) (pp. 986-993).
  13. ↑ http://www.technologyreview.com/news/528886/could-force-illusions-help-wearables-catch-on/
  14. ↑ Pacchierotti, C., Sinclair, S., Solazzi, M., Frisoli, A., Hayward, V., & Prattichizzo, D. (2017). Wearable haptic systems for the fingertip and the hand: Taxonomy, review, and perspectives. IEEE transactions on haptics, 10(4), 580-600.
  15. ↑ Colgan, A. (2021). The PlayStation 5 DualSense Controller: A New Era for Haptics in Gaming. IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine, 10(3), 6-8.
  16. ↑ Coles, T. R., Meglan, D., & John, N. W. (2011). The role of haptics in medical training simulators: A survey of the state of the art. IEEE Transactions on haptics, 4(1), 51-66.
  17. ↑ Sutherland, C., Hashtrudi-Zaad, K., Sellens, R., Abolmaesumi, P., & Mousavi, P. (2019). An augmented reality haptic training simulator for spinal needle procedures. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 66(11), 3094-3104.
  18. ↑ Wang, Z. R., Wang, P., Xing, L., Mei, L. P., Zhao, J., & Zhang, T. (2019). Haptic rendering for dental training system. IEEE Access, 7, 68275-68282.
  19. ↑ Bordegoni, M., Cugini, U., Caruso, G., & Polistina, S. (2009). Mixed prototyping for product assessment: a reference framework. International Journal on Interactive Design and Manufacturing (IJIDeM), 3(3), 177-187.
  20. ↑ Van Erp, J. B., Van Veen, H. A., Jansen, C., & Dobbins, T. (2005). Waypoint navigation with a vibrotactile waist belt. ACM Transactions on Applied Perception (TAP), 2(2), 106-117.
  21. ↑ Baumann, R., Jung, J., & Rogers, S. (2020). Supporting the deaf and hard of hearing in virtual reality with an enhanced user interface. 2020 IEEE Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR), 273-282.
  22. ↑ Pacchierotti, C., Meli, L., Chinello, F., Malvezzi, M., & Prattichizzo, D. (2015). Cutaneous haptic feedback to ensure the stability of robotic teleoperation systems. The International Journal of Robotics Research, 34(14), 1773-1787.
  23. ↑ Son, H. I., Franchi, A., Chuang, L. L., Kim, J., Bulthoff, H. H., & Giordano, P. R. (2013). Human-centered design and evaluation of haptic cueing for teleoperation of multiple mobile robots. IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, 43(2), 597-609.
  24. ↑ Wang, D., Ohnishi, K., & Xu, W. (2020). Multimodal haptic display for virtual reality: A survey. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 67(1), 610-623.
  25. ↑ Yao, S., & Zhu, Y. (2015). Nanomaterial-enabled stretchable conductors: strategies, materials and devices. Advanced Materials, 27(9), 1480-1511.
  26. ↑ Otaduy, M. A., & Lin, M. C. (2005). Introduction to haptic rendering. In ACM SIGGRAPH 2005 Courses (pp. 3-es).
  27. ↑ Prattichizzo, D., Chinello, F., Pacchierotti, C., & Malvezzi, M. (2013). Towards wearability in fingertip haptics: a 3-dof wearable device for cutaneous force feedback. IEEE Transactions on Haptics, 6(4), 506-516.
  28. ↑ Meyer, D. J., Peshkin, M. A., & Colgate, J. E. (2013, April). Fingertip friction modulation due to electrostatic attraction. In 2013 world haptics conference (WHC) (pp. 43-48). IEEE.
  29. ↑ Mullenbach, J., Shultz, C., Colgate, J. E., & Piper, A. M. (2014, April). Surface haptic interactions with a TPad tablet. In Proceedings of the adjunct publication of the 27th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology (pp. 7-8).
  30. ↑ Tyler, D. J. (2016). Restoring the human touch: Prosthetics imbued with haptics give their wearers fine motor control and a sense of connection. IEEE Spectrum, 53(5), 28-33.
  31. ↑ Cincotti, F., Mattia, D., Aloise, F., Bufalari, S., Schalk, G., Oriolo, G., ... & Marciani, M. G. (2008). Non-invasive brain–computer interface system: towards its application as assistive technology. Brain research bulletin, 75(6), 796-803.
  32. ↑ ISO/TC 159/SC 4 Ergonomics of human-system interaction. (2022). ISO 9241-910:2022 Ergonomics of human-system interaction — Part 910: Framework for tactile and haptic interaction.
  33. ↑ Eid, M., Orozco, M., & El Saddik, A. (2007, June). A guided tour in haptic audio visual environments and applications. In 2007 IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo (pp. 1449-1452). IEEE.
  34. ↑ Schorr, S. B., & Okamura, A. M. (2017). Three-dimensional skin deformation as force substitution: Wearable device design and performance during haptic exploration of virtual environments. IEEE transactions on haptics, 10(3), 418-430.
  35. ↑ Jones, L. A., & Sarter, N. B. (2008). Tactile displays: Guidance for their design and application. Human factors, 50(1), 90-111.
  36. ↑ Iwamoto, T., Tatezono, M., & Shinoda, H. (2008, August). Non-contact method for producing tactile sensation using airborne ultrasound. In International Conference on Human Haptic Sensing and Touch Enabled Computer Applications (pp. 504-513). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
  37. ↑ Long, B., Seah, S. A., Carter, T., & Subramanian, S. (2014, April). Rendering volumetric haptic shapes in mid-air using ultrasound. In ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG) (Vol. 33, No. 6, pp. 1-10).
  38. ↑ Danieau, F., Fleureau, J., Guillotel, P., Mollet, N., Christie, M., & Lécuyer, A. (2014). HapSeat: producing motion sensation with multiple force-feedback devices embedded in a seat. In Proceedings of the 18th ACM symposium on Virtual reality software and technology (pp. 69-76).
  39. ↑ Kuchenbecker, K. J., Romano, J., & McMahan, W. (2011). Haptography: Capturing and recreating the rich feel of real surfaces. In Robotics research (pp. 245-260). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
  40. ↑ Lederman, S. J., & Klatzky, R. L. (2009). Haptic perception: A tutorial. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 71(7), 1439-1459.
  41. ↑ MacLean, K. E. (2008). Haptic interaction design for everyday interfaces. Reviews of Human Factors and Ergonomics, 4(1), 149-194.
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