SBIR Phase I: Electrostatic Normal Force Modulation for Haptic Touch Screens

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第1阶段项目描述了解决触摸屏固有的触摸感丧失问题的技术。 近年来，从智能手机到汽车等数十亿种产品中，触摸传感技术变得越来越复杂，而触摸输出触觉技术却落后了。 大多数设备要么没有触摸输出，要么只有粗糙的振动触觉确认。 因此，虚拟键盘在一个没有生命的触摸屏上要困难得多，即使在不应该的地方，视觉需求也很大。例如在汽车和用于视觉障碍者的应用中。 提出的研究解决这些不足之处，开发一种新的触觉技术的基础上产生的横向力，创造触觉效果，如边缘的键。 先前的研究证明，横向力可以通过静电和振动效应的协调来控制。 第一阶段的研究将集中在静电部分。 创新的电子设计和高k电介质材料的使用将为触摸屏环境带来低功耗、机械坚固和可制造的触觉解决方案。 该研究将重点关注磨损和缺陷机制，并量化透明度、电阻损耗、驱动功率和电压与可能产生的横向力的动态范围之间的权衡。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是创建一个真正的触觉反馈，使触摸屏设备能够通过触觉而不仅仅是视觉和声音进行通信。 触摸屏的流行始于几十年前，但随着智能手机的推出而真正爆发。 随着汽车、计算机和许多其他应用继续采用这种多功能界面，预计未来五年全球触摸屏的增长率将达到两位数。虽然消费者被触摸屏的灵活性所吸引，但他们只是学会了处理包括缺乏触摸感在内的缺点。 所提出的触觉技术产生多点触摸横向力，而不是产生可触摸的虚拟对象和动态效果（如键盘、点击的拨号盘和拉伸的字符串）的简单振动。 这项技术可以取代超声波机器上的按钮和拨号盘，让技术人员感觉到有形的控制，但允许一个容易清洁的表面。 汽车驾驶员可以感觉到收音机预设的按钮，并通过触觉计算目的地之前的道路数量。正是这种交流的扩展将受到用户的重视，从而创造了对触觉的真正需求，这在这一点上是事后的想法。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 project describes technologies that address the lost sense of touch inherent with touchscreens. Found on billions of products ranging from smartphones to automobiles, touch sensing technology has grown increasingly sophisticated in recent years, while touch output haptics has lagged. Most devices have either no touch output or crude vibrotactile confirmations. Thus, virtual keyboards are much more difficult on a lifeless touchscreen and visual demands are great even where they shouldn?t such as in automobiles and applications for the visually impaired. The proposed research addresses these deficiencies by developing a novel haptic technology based on production of lateral force to create haptic effects such as the edges of keys. Prior research proved lateral forces can be controlled via coordination of electrostatic and vibrational effects. This Phase I research will focus on the electrostatic component. An innovative electronic design and use of high-k dielectric materials will lead to low-power, mechanically robust, and manufacturable haptic solutions for touchscreen environments. The investigation will focus on wear and defect mechanisms, and quantify the tradeoffs between transparency, resistive losses, actuation power and voltage versus the dynamic range of lateral forces that can be produced.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is creating a true haptic feedback that will enable touchscreen devices to communicate through the sense of touch rather than just sight and sound. The prevalence of touchscreens began decades ago but really exploded with the introduction of smartphones. Worldwide double-digit growth of touchscreens is expected for the next five years as automobiles, computers, and many other applications continue to adopt this versatile interface. While consumers are attracted to the flexibility of touchscreens, they have simply learned to deal with the shortcomings including a lack of touch sensory. The proposed haptic technologies create multi-touch lateral forces rather than simple vibrations that produce palpable virtual objects and dynamic effects such as keyboards, dials that click, and strings that stretch. This technology could replace buttons and dials on an ultrasound machine to allow technicians to feel tangible controls but allow for an easily cleanable surface. Automobile drivers could feel for radio preset buttons and count the number of roads before their destination through the sense of touch. It is this expansion of communication that will be valued by users, thus creating a true demand for haptics which has to this point been an afterthought.