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Haptics devices have been developed in a wide range of form factors, actuation methods, and degrees of freedom, often with the goal of communicating information. While work has investigated the maximum rate and quantity of information that can be transferred through haptics, these measures often do not inform how humans will use the devices. In this work, we measure the differences between perception and use as it relates to signal complexity. Using an inflatable soft haptic display with four independently actuated pouches, we provide navigation directions to participants. The haptic device operates in three modalities, in increasing order of signal complexity: Cardinal, Ordinal, and Continuous. We first measure participants’ accuracy in perceiving continuous signals generated by the device, showing average errors below 5 deg. Participants then used the haptic device in each operating mode to guide an object towards a target in a 2-dimensional plane. Our results indicate that human’s use of haptic signals often lags significantly behind the displayed signal and is less accurate than their static perception. Additionally signal complexity was correlated with path efficiency but inversely correlated with movement speed, showing that even simple design changes create complex tradeoffs.
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Soft Growing Pin for High-Extension Shape-Changing Displays
Regular user interface screens can display dense and detailed information to human users but miss out on providing somatosensory stimuli that take full advantage of human spatial cognition. Therefore, the development of new haptic displays can strengthen human-machine communication by augmenting visual communication with tactile stimulation needed to transform information from digital to spatial/physical environments. Shape-changing interfaces, such as pin arrays and robotic surfaces, are one method for providing this spatial dimension of feedback; however, these displays are often either limited in maximum extension or require bulky mechanical components. In this paper, we present a compact pneumatically actuated soft growing pin for inflatable haptic interfaces. Each pin consists of a rigid, air-tight chamber, an inflatable fabric pin, and a passive spring-actuated reel mechanism. The device behavior was experimentally characterized, showing extension to 18.5 cm with relatively low pressure input (1.75 psi, 12.01 kPa), and the behavior was compared to the mathematical model of soft growing robots. The results showed that the extension of the soft pin can be accurately modeled and controlled using pressure as input. Finally, we demonstrate the feasibility of implementing individually actuated soft growing pins to create an inflatable haptic surface.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2129155
- PAR ID:
- 10543646
- Publisher / Repository:
- IEEE
- Date Published:
- ISSN:
- 2769-4534
- ISBN:
- 979-8-3503-8181-8
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 650 to 656
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- San Diego, CA, USA
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1109/RoboSoft60065.2024.10522001
