Controlled radical polymerization enables sense of texture in haptics
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ovide valuable fundamental insight into optimal temperature and charge/discharge regimes for novel battery designs, according to the research team. Most importantly, the required diagnostic equipment is relatively compact and simple. This allows many cells to be tested in the laboratory at
once, and eventually electric transportation vehicles and grid-scale battery banks will stand to benefit from built-in sensors that will provide real-time tracking of battery health and warn about impending degradation or safety concerns. Boris Dyatkin
Controlled radical polymerization enables sense of texture in haptics
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inesthetic communication represents a key area of interest in perfecting user experience in virtual reality (VR) applications through creating texture sensation on fingertips. Haptic technology has been used to deliver the feeling of surface roughness, hardness, and temperature by a mixed mode of mechanical and electrical stimulation. However, nonfunctional homogeneous materials and bulky actuators pose spatial limitations on the controllability of the sensation gamut, thus deviating from the experience of real touch. Stimuli-responsive polymers synthesized by controlled free-radical polymerization over narrow molecular weight and polydispersity suggest a potential route for modifying tactile sensation at the molecular level by proper materials design and selection. In a recent issue of Advanced Intelligent Systems (doi:10.1002/aisy.202000018), a research team, led by Darren Lipomi at the University of California, San Diego, reported the use of aqueous reversible addition fragmentation transfer polymerization based on π-conjugated PEDOT, stretchable scaffold PSS, and an acrylic polymer, poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether acrylate, to fabricate an elastomeric conductive block copolymer for electrotactile stimulation. “This paper represents the first time the tools of materials chemistry have been applied to a problem in haptics,” says Lipomi. “We synthesized a stretchable, printable conductive polymer using controlled radical polymerization while most haptic actuators are made using commercial, off-theshelf components.” The research team
Physical complement
Haptic glove: roughness, hardness, and temperature
actuation bidirectional communication
Robotic hand Virtual complement
sensation
Conductive elastomer on textile VR hand
Schematic drawings of the wireless multimodal haptic glove with electrotactile sensor enabled by a synthesized conductive polymer for interfacing with a robotic hand and virtual reality (VR). Credit: Advanced Intelligent Systems.
developed a wireless multimodal haptic glove to recreate texture sensation when interfacing with a robotic hand or VR environment. The glove uses three types of actuators that produce electrotactile for roughness, vibrotactile for hardness, and thermoelectric effect for temperature. The synthesized conductive polymer was used for electrotactile stimulation due to its relatively high conductivity and low electrical impedance to metal electrodes. The researc
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