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Despite advances in digitizing vision and hearing, touch still lacks an equivalent digital interface matching the fidelity of human perception. This gap limits the quality of digital tactile information and the realism of virtual experiences. Here, we introduce a step toward human-resolution haptics: a class of wearable tactile displays designed to match the spatial and temporal acuity of the human fingertip. Our device, VoxeLite, is a 0.1-millimeter-thick, 0.19-gram, skin-conformal array of individually addressable soft electroadhesive actuators (“nodes”). As users touch and move across surfaces, VoxeLite delivers high-resolution distributed forces via the nodes. Enabled by scalable microfabrication techniques, the display achieves actuator densities up to 110 nodes per square centimeter, produces stimuli up to 800 hertz, and remains transparent to real-world tactile input. We demonstrate its ability to render small-scale hapticons and virtual textures and transmit physical surfaces, validated through human psychophysics and biomimetic sensing. These findings position VoxeLite as a platform for human-resolution haptics in immersive interfaces, robotics, and digital touch communication.
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The HapConnect: Teaching about Haptics and Inclusive Design with Modular, Wearable Technology
In this paper, a learning module is introduced to teach undergraduate engineering students about the principles of haptics and inclusive design thinking through wearable technology. To that end, a novel wearable haptic (touch) device was created, referred to as the HapConnect, that contains modular vibration components for student teams to explore the use of haptics in a simple context, design and create their own versions of the device, and deploy it in a use-inspired setting. Through a series of lecture and hands-on design sessions, student teams were tasked with employing the HapConnect to navigate through a maze exclusively by the sense of touch. This paper evaluates student confidence in topics – such as haptics, human perception, wearable devices, and inclusive design – discussed throughout the module, feedback and performance of the HapConnect, and team design choices to complete their activity. Results indicate that student learning and confidence increased throughout the activity, while each team’s success in the maze was attributed to their differing design choices.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1845490
- PAR ID:
- 10434303
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- American Society for Engineering Education
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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