Haptic wearables

我们的高级目标是探索可穿戴触觉的设计，将其作为日常条件下的交互范例。这需要无线设备能够连接到身体上或插入到常规衣服中，能够感知人类的输入并向佩戴者提供丰富的表现力输出。对于InterDigital来说，触觉技术代表着一个新的领域，与其核心市场具有潜在的重要协同效应。与InterDigital合作，并以我们在脚-地感应和致动方面的经验为基础，我们将探索这一设计空间，重点放在基于脚的触觉上，其潜在应用范围从康复治疗和运动训练到信息通信、虚拟现实和移动游戏。该提议支持的研究计划涉及三个平行的研究轨道：1)增强我们的触觉设备架构，包括传感器和致动器的集成；2)模式感知研究，包括信号生成设计策略，以产生佩戴这些设备的用户所体验的触觉，无论是以离散的振动模式(“墨西哥卷”)的形式，还是以引起与物体或地面相互作用的更连续的纹理的形式，以及3)探索将可穿戴的触觉设备用于地面模拟，以及在强制应用中的使用，特别是在诸如游戏、运动训练和物理康复等需要机动性的应用中。该研究的预期结果包括更深入地理解触觉感知中涉及的感觉和生理机制，包括那些与触觉错觉和多感觉融合有关的机制，利用这种理解来开发支持针对各种用例的触觉效果设计的灵活工具包，该工具包在移动应用环境中的验证，在移动应用环境中，特别是在脚上添加触觉信号，显著增强了用户体验。

Our high-level objective is to explore the design of wearable haptics as an interaction paradigm in everyday conditions. This requires wireless devices that can be attached to the body or inserted into regular clothing, capable of sensing human input and delivering richly expressive output to the wearer. For InterDigital, haptics represents a new area, with potentially important synergy with its core market. In collaboration with InterDigital, and building on our experience with foot-ground sensing and actuation, we will explore this design space with a focus on foot-based haptics, for which potential applications span the gamut from rehabilitation therapy and sports training to information communication, virtual reality, and mobile gaming.The research program to be supported by this proposal involves three parallel tracks of investigation: 1) augmentation of our haptics device architecture, including integration of sensors and actuators, 2) pattern perception research, including signal generation design strategies, as needed to produce the haptic sensations experienced by users wearing these devices, whether in the form of discrete patterns of vibration ("tactons") or more continuous textures evocative of interaction with objects or ground surfaces, and 3) exploration of the use of wearable haptic devices for ground surface simulation, and in compelling applications, in particular those requiring mobility, such as gaming, sports training, and physical rehabilitation.The anticipated outcomes of this research include a deeper understanding of the sensory and physiological mechanisms involved in haptic perception, including those related to haptic illusions and multisensory fusion, use of this understanding to develop a flexible toolkit that supports the design of haptic effects for a variety of use cases, and the validation of this toolkit in a mobile application context in which the addition of haptic signals, in particular, to the feet, significantly enhances the user experience.