Soft Haptic Interface based on Vibration and Particle Jamming

Abstract

Whilst common in devices ranging from smartphones to game controllers, vibrotactile feedback has generally been limited to providing a uniform sensation across a tactile surface. We propose a haptic interface based on the emerging physical effect of particle jamming with both vibrotactile and shape changing outputs, which can be extended in space to create haptic surfaces and devices with shape and vibrotactile responses localised to one part of the device. This paper gives an overview of the physical principles behind this technology and presents detailed performance metrics obtained from a working prototype. These include experimental characterization of the relationships between air pressure and electric motor power and vibration amplitude and frequency which show that it is possible to control vibrotactile amplitude and frequency independently.

A Suite of Robotic Solutions for Nuclear Waste Decommissioning

“…Frequency remained fairly consistent under this condition. Under higher vacuum pressure, and a consequent rigid particle body, increasing motor power doubled the amplitude of vibration by about 50%, after which point vibration amplitude remained consistent [67].…”

“…Reliable, easy to learn, and easy to operate human-machine interfaces are critical for the efficient and safe teleoperation of robotic systems performing tasks in extreme environments. At QMUL we have proposed several novel interaction methods [6,[67][68][69] that utilise virtual reality and haptic technologies (as outlined in the following subsections) to efficiently teleoperate robots located in remote and hazardous environments. The proposed human-machine interfaces can be employed within the integrated telerobotic system shown in Figure 1.…”

“…To address this limitation, several novel haptic devices based on particle jamming have been developed, allowing air pressure control to affect jamming transition and inflate the touch surface and the source of the vibrations (via eccentric motors or linear resonant actuators). The prototype interface [67,82] and the proposed joystick interface [83] are shown in Figure 10. Our solution uses a vacuum pump to generate an area of low pressure within a rigid casing, forcing the soft cover into the device and causing the particles to jam.…”

Using Audio Recordings to Characterise a Soft Haptic Joystick

“…Vibrotactile sensations are generated by a pair of Actronika HapCoil One Linear Resonant Actuators (LRAs), controlled by an Actronika HSD mk.1 high current sound card. Previous research has shown that the vibrotactile effect can be modulated by the particle jamming system as well as by direct signal control of the actuators [5].…”

“…Previous work has added rendering of vibrotactile sensations to a haptic surface based on particle jamming [5,4]. This design is now extended and expanded with the intention of creating a haptic system that can be retrofitted to a computer joystick or other interactive devices to render a wide variety of haptic sensations whilst controlling a remote mobile robot.…”