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

SBIR 第一阶段：触觉触摸屏的静电法向力调制

• 批准号: 1215440
• 负责人: Gregory Topel
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: Tangible Haptics, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-07-01 至 2012-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1215440&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Electrostatic; Normal; Force

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.

该小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目介绍了解决触摸屏固有的触觉丢失问题的技术。从智能手机到汽车，数十亿种产品上都有触摸传感技术，近年来，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，要么有粗糙的振动触觉确认。因此，虚拟键盘在没有生命的触摸屏上要困难得多，即使在不应该使用的地方，比如汽车和视障人士的应用程序中，视觉需求也很大。这项拟议的研究通过开发一种新的触觉技术来解决这些不足，该技术基于产生侧向力来产生触觉效果，如键的边缘。先前的研究证明，侧向力可以通过静电和振动效应的协调来控制。这一阶段的研究将集中在静电元件上。创新的电子设计和高k介电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。调查将集中在磨损和缺陷机制上，并量化透明度、电阻损失、驱动功率和电压与可产生的侧向力的动态范围之间的权衡。该项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是创造一种真正的触觉反馈，使触摸屏设备能够通过触觉进行交流，而不仅仅是视觉和声音。触摸屏的流行始于几十年前，但随着智能手机的推出，触摸屏的普及真的是爆炸性的。随着汽车、计算机和许多其他应用程序继续采用这种多功能界面，预计未来五年全球触摸屏的数量将实现两位数的增长。虽然消费者被触摸屏的灵活性所吸引，但他们只是学会了应对包括缺乏触觉在内的缺点。拟议中的触觉技术创造了多点触摸的侧向力，而不是简单的振动，从而产生可触摸的虚拟物体和动态效果，如键盘、滴答声和伸展的弦。这项技术可以取代超声波机上的按钮和刻度盘，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。汽车司机可以感觉到无线预置按钮，并通过触摸来计算目的地之前的道路数量。正是这种交流的扩展才会受到用户的重视，从而创造出对触觉的真正需求，而到目前为止，这一需求一直是事后才想到的。