VISUALIZATION: High Fidelity Virtual Touch: Algorithms, Applications and Evaluation

力反馈设备，或触觉接口，有可能通过增加触觉来提高人机交互的质量。然而，仍然有一些实际的力反馈应用程序，在很大程度上是由于严格的计算要求的触觉渲染。为了保持高保真系统，触觉更新速率必须高达1000 Hz，而不是图形显示的30 Hz更新。这对于用于显示任意对象对的力和扭矩的6自由度（DOF）触觉设备尤其具有挑战性。这需要在不到一毫秒的时间内精确地确定所有碰撞点的接触和接触力和扭矩计算。该项目侧重于高保真触觉显示或“虚拟触摸”的三个方面。第一个目标包括开发新的基于几何和物理的算法，这些算法可以将现有技术提高一个数量级以上，此外还可以在此期间提高处理器速度和计算能力。这将基于混合空间数据结构，简化层次，多分辨率表示，有界误差近似，和大规模并行光栅化硬件。第二个目标是追求可以从使用高保真6-DOF触觉显示器中显著受益的应用。这包括纳米结构的虚拟原型，分子之间生物相互作用的触觉可视化，维护分析和交互式建模和绘画。第三个目标是评估6-DOF触觉渲染系统作为人机接口的工具。这项工作将与波音、桑迪亚实验室和Sensable Technologies合作完成。如果成功，拟议的研究将提供使能算法和原型软件系统设计一个高保真的虚拟触摸系统。

Force feedback devices, or haptic interfaces, have the potential to increase the qualityof human-computer interaction by adding the sense of touch. However, there are still few practical force feedback applications, due in large part to the stringent computational requirements of haptic rendering. In order to maintain a high fidelity system, haptic update rates must be as high as 1000 Hz, rather than the 30 Hz updates for graphical displays. This is especially challenging for 6-degree of freedom (DOF) haptic devices which are used to display forces and torques for arbitrary pairs of objects. This requires accurate contact determination and contact force and torque computation of all collision points in less than a millisecond.This project focuses on three aspects of high fidelity haptic display or ''virtual touch''. The first goal includes developing new geometric and physically-based algorithms that can improve the state of the art by more than an order of magnitude, in addition to the expected improvements in processor speed and computing power over that time. This will be based on hybrid spatial data structures, simplification hierarchies, multi-resolution representations, bounded error approximations, and massively parallel rasterization hardware. The second goal is to pursue applications that can benefit significantly from the use of high-fidelity 6-DOF haptic displays. This includes virtual prototyping of nano-structures, haptic visualization of biological interaction between molecules, maintenance analysis and interactive modeling and painting. The third goal is the evaluation of 6-DOF haptic rendering systems as a tool for human-computer interface. This will be done in collaboration with Boeing, Sandia Labs, and Sensable Technologies. If successful, the proposed research will provide enabling algorithms and a prototype software system for designing a high-fidelity virtual touch system.