Create the Illusion of Stretching, Bending, and Twisting with PseudoBend Haptic Feedback Device
The PsuedoBend device uses a force/torque sensor, vibrotactile actuator, and Teensy 3.6 board to provide the haptic feedback illusion.
Researchers from the University of Toronto and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have developed a new haptic feedback technique that uses grain vibrations to create the illusions of stretching, bending, and twisting on a cylindrical device.
Current VR technologies allow us to see and hear objects in the virtual worlds, but perceiving those objects on a physical scale is limited using current hand-held controllers. PseudoBend was designed to enable users to ‘feel’ the shape of those virtual objects via tactile illusions generated by friction-induced vibration.
The researchers designed the PseudoBend device using a pair of hollow 3D printed (PLA) cylindrical handles, an ATI Nano25 6-DOF force/torque sensor, a voice coil actuator, and a Teensy 3.6 board. The force/torque sensor is mounted between the two handles and measures the force/torque between the two.
The TactileLabs Haptuator BM2C voice coil actuator is attached to the inner walls of the handles and generates vibrations within a bandwidth of 30-1000Hz. The researchers took advantage of the Teensy’s digital-to-analog converter to generate a signal (boosted through a TDA7297 audio amplifier) to drive the Haptuator.
The researchers tested the PseudoBend using participants who were not told about what the experiment’s context, or that the device’s deformation illusions were not real. Each participant used the PseudoBend inside of a box they couldn’t see through and wore headphones to block out the vibrational noise generated by the device. They were then seated in front of a monitor and instructed to bend, stretch, and twist the device via a series of questions and threshold manipulation instructions, which they then answered using a foot controller.
All of the participants reported feeling the PseudoBend device deform when using it at low thresholds, meaning the less force they used to try to bend the object resulted in believing the illusion. The researchers plan to continue the PsuedoBend device’s development to make it more realistic and plan to test it using immersive VR applications.
