Intro to
Haptic technology
SAI RAM .E

CONTENTS…
 What is haptics
 History and development
 Introduction to haptics
 How haptics works?
 Applications of Haptics
 Haptic devices
 Advantages
 Limitations
 Future scope

What is haptics?
•

HAPTICS FEEDBACK
• Haptics is implemented through different type of interactions with a haptic
device communicating with the computer.
• These interactions can be categorized into the different types of touch
sensations a user can receive:
1)Tactile Feedback 2)Force Feedback
• weight
• hardness
• strength
• elasticity
• Shape
• density
• Texture
• Smoothness
• Roughness

History and development
The first US patent for a tactile telephone was granted toThomas
D. Shannon in 1973.
An early tactile man-machine communication system was
constructed by A. Michael Noll at BellTelephone Laboratories, Inc.
in the early 1970s] and a patent was issued for his invention in
1975.]

Types of haptics
1.Tactile feed back
2.Force feedback
3.Haptic touch screen
4.Ultra haptics

1.Tactile feedback haptics
Refers to the sensations felt by the skin
It allows the user to feel the texture of the virtual objects
Haptics uses a vibrating component (sometimes called actuator) such
as a vibration motor or a linear resonant actuator which is driven by an
electronic circuit.
 It is common for a microcontroller to decided when to vibrate and with which
pattern, and for a dedicated haptic driver chip to control the actuator.
By means of electrical impulses, a user is able to receive a wide range of
sensations which can not be reproduced with any other feedback systems
that currently exist.

2.Force feedback haptics
 It reproduces the diretionall forces that result from solid boundaries
 The user can feel physical forces like
• weight
• hardness
• strength
• elasticity
• Shape
• density

Haptic devices
1.Phantom interface

Cybergrasp glove

2.Haptic glove
• This device fits over the user's entire hand like
an exoskeleton and adds resistive force feedback to each finger.
• Five actuators produce the forces, which are transmitted
along tendons that connect the fingertips to the exoskeleton.
• With the CyberGrasp system, users are able to feel the size and
shape of virtual objects that only exist in a computer-generated
world.
• To make sure a user's fingers don't penetrate or crush a virtual
solid object, the actuators can be individually
programmed to match the object's physical properties.

GLOVE ONE

3.Dexmo development kit

Specs..

3.Touch screen haptics
• Haptics, touch feedback technology creates the perception of pressing physical
switches.
• The process of authentication can be enhanced with a touch screen that provides
tactile or touch feedback.

Ultra haptics –SENSATION OFTOUCH IN MID-AIR
UltraHaptics technology uses ultrasound to create rich, three-dimensional
shapes and textures in mid-air that can be touched and felt, but not seen.

ULTRAHAPTIC DEVICE
• Leap Motion Controller(motion recoganizer)
• Ultrasound transducer array(AC to ultrasound)
• Logic processor board
• UltrahapticsApplication ProgrammingInterface(API)—
controls modulation frequency
Components
Hardware:
SOFTWARE, TOOLS AND SUPPORT
•Software Development Kit (C#, C++ API and Unity®)
•Support for Windows, OSX and Linux based platforms
•Sensation Editor tool: rapidly evaluate and experiment
with mid-air haptics sensations

Working of the device
Each of our Ultrahaptics kits come with the Leap Motion® camera module and an ultrasound array.
• The Leap Motion® camera module uses visible and infrared light to track hand position and as such,
has a very high resolution, typically sub-millimetre.
• The Ultrahaptics array uses ultrasound to create the control points felt by you in mid-air.
• The dimensions of the control points are determined by the wavelength of the ultrasound. Currently,
our technology uses transducers with a frequency of 40kHz, i.e. a wavelength of approximately 8mm.
So each control point will be approximately 8mm in diameter.
• However, the Ultrahaptics array is capable of steering the position of these control points with a much
higher resolution and at a very high update rate, allowing accurate placement of each on the fingers
and hands and the creation of immersive and tangible haptic sensations

How the magic works
Ultrahaptics uses ultrasound to create and manipulate focused points of high acoustic pressure.
These Control points can be moved around in real-time to interact with our hands to create a sensation.
The surface of the hands are covered with sensitive nerve endings called mechanoreceptors.
Because these are not sensitive to a constant high pressure the control points are manipulated, either by moving
them – Spatio-Temporal Modulation – or changing their intensity with a lower frequency wave – Amplitude
Modulation.

Ultrahaptic feedback

applications
AUTOMOTIVES
Ultrahaptics makes the driving experience safer by enabling drivers to keep their eyes on
the road while still maintaining intuitive control of infotainment and audio systems.

Applications of haptic technology
1.Computer and video games
• Haptic feedback is commonly used in
arcade games,especially racing video
games
• Disney Research,Pittsburg(DRP)
has shown off a revolutionary
technology called ‘Surround
Haptics that can bring real life
experience in video gaming and
film watching.

Surround haptics
• Surround Haptics is a new tactile technology that uses a low-resolution
grid of inexpensive vibrating actuators to generate high-resolution,
continuous, moving tactile strokes on human skin .
• The user would not feel the discrete tactile pulses and buzzes that are
so common today, but rather a smooth tactile motion, akin to what we
feel when someone drags a finger across our skin.

2.Personal computers
Apple’s MacBook, MacBook Pro and iphone7 started incorporating a “Tactile
Touch pad and home button” design.
A "click" on a ForceTouch keyboard isn't a true click.What feels like a click is actually haptic feedback based on the
amount of pressure you've applied to the trackpad.
Iphone 7

A haptic device includes a substantially transparent composite piezoelectric cell configured to
measure a deformation of a surface of the cell and to provide a haptic feedback effect as a result of
the deformation.
Nokia phone designers have perfected a tactile touchscreen that makes on-screen buttons behave
as if they were real buttons.When a user presses the button, he or she feels movement in and
movement out. He also hears an audible click. Nokia engineers accomplished this by placing two
small piezoelectric sensor pads under the screen and designing the screen so it could move slightly
when pressed.

advantages
• Communication is centered through touch and the digital world can behave like
the real world.
• Working time is reduced since objects can be captured, manipulated, modified
and rescaled digitally.
• Medical field simulators allow would be surgeons to practice digitally, gaining
confidence in the procedure before working on breathing patients.
• With haptic hardware and software, the designer can maneuver the part and
feel the result, as if he/she were handling the physical object.

Market’s most important players:
• AACTechnologies,
• Alps Electric
• Nidec Corporation
• Cypress Semiconductor
• Texas Instruments
• Bluecom
• On Semiconductor
• Microchip
• Johnson Electric
• Immersion
• Jinlong Machinery & Electronics
• Precision Microdrives
• Novasentis