Enabling Wearable Soft Tactile Displays with Electroactive Smart Elastomers
Ongoing developments in our lab to develop wearable soft tactile displays made of electroactive smart elastomers are proposed, which have the benefit that they support multiple-finger interaction with virtual soft bodies, via soft electrically-deformable
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School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK [email protected] School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
Abstract. Ongoing developments in our lab to develop wearable soft tactile displays made of electroactive smart elastomers are proposed, which have the benefit that they support multiple-finger interaction with virtual soft bodies, via soft electrically-deformable interfaces. The overall system consists of soft tactile displays arranged at the user’s fingertips, which generate an electrically tuneable force according to information captured by an optical three dimensional finger tracking system, combined with a virtual environment that represents the position of the fingers. The tactile displays are based on an original design which uses the electromechanically active polymer transduction technology known as dielectric elastomer actuators. The paper presents our latest demonstrators, which allow users to probe a soft object with one finger, and describes ongoing development towards a multiple-finger system, based on a new compact design of the tactile displays. Keywords: Actuator Dielectric elastomer Display Electroactive Haptic Interface Polymer Soft Tactile Virtual Wearable
1 Introduction The use of virtual images, computer generated objects and 3D models is becoming increasingly relevant in a number of fields such as simulators for training of medical operators [1], systems for teleoperations [2], computer aided design and 3D modelling [3]. For instance, virtual reality (VR) can help train surgeons, reducing the need for learning and practicing with patients or animals [4]. To this aim, data from body scans in three dimensions (3D) already allow for accurate virtual rendering of the surgical scene [5]. Nevertheless, the visual feedback that can be generated is not sufficient to generate a truly realistic virtual experience. Indeed, visual feedback has to be complemented with tactile feedback, delivered via wearable tactile displays, enabling users to appreciate differences in compliance for the different virtual tissues. Several commercial interfaces, capable of providing users with tactile feedback, are currently available. For example, the grounded interface Geomagic Touch (Geomagic, Inc., USA) is accurate and can produce considerable forces, even though it is far from © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 F. Bello et al. (Eds.): EuroHaptics 2016, Part II, LNCS 9775, pp. 326–334, 2016. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-42324-1_32
Enabling Wearable Soft Tactile Displays
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being wearable [6]. The CyberGrasp system can provide force feedback to the five fingers [7]; however, its complex mechanics, made of tendons routed via an exoskeleton, and the need for an external actuator module, limit its portability [6]. CyberTouch is designed to add tactile feedback to the system, but it works only in vibration mode [8]. In order to overcome the limitations of such devices, Scilingo et al. propo
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