Category: Haptics

Haptics

HAPTICS-Touching lives through technology

Haptics has a most significant role in the world of  VR, and It’s a technology that converges with the people by using the sense of touch. The sensations can be widely organized into some “sensory channels,” and each of them can be differentiated by the various subset of biological receptors placed throughout the soft tissue, skin, etc.

What is haptics all about?

 The sensory channels are of three distinct types namely Tactile, Vibrotactile, thermal force.

 Tactile Feedback:

You might have experienced patterns on your skin’s surface, and this can be easily solved out with the help of the Tactile feedback, the tiny receptors collect these patterns of pressure and spread everywhere on your skin and explicate into the sensation array by the brain.

The tactile Feedback channel is considered to be the primary information source regarding the Object surface features, excellent shape, etc. Apart from them they also donate to the cognizance of size, weight, and textures.

Vibrotactile Feedback:

Everyone who comes up with VR and AR might have experienced this vibration feedback in any one form like a rumble of a game controller, the buzz of mobile phones, etc. Few VR might have tried Vibrotactile feedback wearables like Manus and Gloveone.

Thermal Force Feedback:

By the name, you might have come up with an idea about the thermal feedback, its the cold or warm type of haptics but they are considered to be one step ahead of the temperature. Realistic thermal feedback considers three significant modes of heat transfer namely Convection, conduction, and radiation.

What XR haptics do with haptics Technology?

XR haptics offers the complete solution to the tactile feedback challenges, and the haptic textile is capable of generating top-notch quality tactile feedback ina flexible, thin and wearable package. We at XR haptics make use of the patented microfluidic technology so that controlling the pressure of any type of actuators is secure across the textile surfaces.

We quickly form a virtually infinite array of perfect tactile sensations by varying the pressure, and we believe that this is one of the mandatory tactile feedback for fully immersive virtual reality.

While considering the Vibrotactile feedbacks, they are one of the essential sensory channels with the best quality hardware. At XR Haptics, we have come up with new integrations along with the shelf vibration actuators as similar to the one you can see on your mobile phones. The actuators of this types are developed to produce vibration feedback with high-fidelity in an inexpensive and compact form. We would say that software is one of the vibrotactile feedback’s challenge.

In the case of thermal Feedback, we at XR haptics heat and then cool water using the small reservoirs and then use the tiny channels in our XR haptics to control the water flow to create hotter and colder sensations.

XR Haptics provides the medical training solution with the help of “the virtual reality” for the medical students, nursing students, medical doctors, patients educations tools and other related health professionals. The XR Haptics make use of these virtual reality training tools that operate using the sense of touch and are considered to be the most effective education training tools.

Haptics

How Haptic Technology Works?

Haptic technology is the current hottest trend and has been developed in different forms. In spite of the various kinds of haptic technologies used, they all function around the same type of principle by making use of a combination of vibration, motion, and force to restrategize the touching sense. In this blog, we will have a look over the Haptic technology or the sensors and their working mechanism in depth.

Haptic sensors or technology are growing significantly and are used in different types of industries from Games console controllers to automobiles and smartphones. Few of the statistics have indicated that the implementation and production of haptic technologies will be $12.9 billion industry by the end of 2022.

Haptic technology is associated often with the clicks and buzzes of the notifications, alerts from our smartphones and the perceptive way they give us assessment as we interact with the technology or system. Haptic Technology is not new to the industry, they have used by manufacturers in electronics before the ’90s. Haptics is used mainly in automotive and medical applications. There are three different haptic technologies namely ERMV (Eccentric Rotating Mass Vibration) motors, LRAs (Linear Resonant Actuators) and Piezoelectric Actuators.

Working Mechanism of Haptics Technology:

Apart from utilizing the vibration, motion, and forces, Haptics sensors make use of a force assessment loop to deploy the user movement goes beyond a vibration alert.  The primary haptic technology principle is the electric current generation which drives a response in creating a vibration. This vibration process defines the variations of the technologies.

Regardless, not all haptic technology needs touch to work and this is known as non-contact haptics and make use of sensors technologies like concentrated air pockets and ultrasound to create an interactive 3D space all-around the user. After this, the user can interact with the device space without any physical touch.

Let’s have a detailed look over the three types of haptic sensors and their principle of working in depth.

Eccentric Rotating Mass Vibration:

The working mechanism of ERMV is as similar to the DC motor. The Electric current generates a magnetic field, and this magnetic field makes use of the off-center bias from the rotation point to drive an object in a circle. The magnetic force spread over the rotating mass builds an irregular centripetal force which induces the motor to produce a lateral vibration as well as forward and backward motions. The vibration intensity induced by Eccentric Rotating Mass Vibration is dependent often on the electrical conduction supplied to the system or device. When the driving circuit is simple, and ERMV’s would be the perfect haptic technology of choice.

Linear Resonant Actuators:

Linear Resonant Actuators utilizes both electrical conduction and magnetic fields to build an oscillating force along the single axis. When compared with Eccentric Rotating Mass Vibration, LRA’s skips DC and makes use of an AC Voltage. This electronic conduction drives a voice call that is forced besides a moving mass. A magnetic field is created when the voice call resonates with a similar frequency of the spring. The magnetic field stimulates the actuator to vibrate with a motion which can be left by a human. One can quickly change the AC input and adjust the Linear Resonance Actuators. LRSs can be used during the critical start/stop timing, and the vibration amplitude requires independent adjustment or the circuit can enforce a driver chip.

Piezoelectric Actuators:

Piezoelectric actuators are developed with a kind of ceramic material which contracts or expands when electric conduction is applied, generating force and motion. When a differential voltage is enforced amidst both Piezo actuator ends, it deforms or bends, producing a vibration.

When compared to both ERMV’s and LRA’s, Piezoelectric actuators are more precise due to their vibration ability at a full frequency and amplitude ranges which can be controlled independently using the driving AC voltage. The vibration and springs resonant frequencies do not rely on others so that the frequency can be altered freely without any significant efficiency loss.

The three crucial characterizations that have impeded broader adoption of this piezoelectric actuators is the power consumption, fragile nature of the materials and component cost.

With the continued proliferation of smartphones, hardware devices, and gaming, haptics technology will play an important part in bridging the personal device experience.