Collaborative Research: HCC: Medium: "Unboxing" Haptic Texture Perception: Closing the Loop from Skin Contact Mechanics to Novel Haptic Device

现代虚拟现实设备试图在没有物理表面和物体的情况下创造一种真实的触觉，但到目前为止，它们还达不到这一目标。事实上，没有用于触觉的现有接口（称为“触觉接口”）能够复制触摸的最基本方面之一：纹理表面在直接皮肤接触期间的感觉。通过工具模拟接触的界面消除了仅可从皮肤接触获得的特征，但是允许直接皮肤接触的界面目前不足以传达表面的材料和细粒度结构细节。简而言之，他们感觉不现实。该项目通过为触觉设备的设计提供一种新的方法来促进科学和技术的进步，旨在产生高度逼真的虚拟纹理，并且它将朝着理解触摸感知迈出一步，解决以前未研究的组件：皮肤与其接触表面之间的详细物理交互。我们提出的触觉技术的发展和进一步了解我们的触觉可以在人机交互中的应用，如创建更身临其境的虚拟环境和改善远程机器人的控制。在教育和虚拟现实开发中也有多种应用，特别是对于盲人和视障人士，这将受益于对触摸感知的深入理解和创建虚拟体验的更好工具。此外，我们从过去感知基础科学的技术发展中了解到，例如对听觉的研究导致了尖端的音频接口，我们可能低估了更好地理解这种强大的感觉模态所带来的技术进步。本项目将基于三个互补目标开发新的触觉技术：（1）使用通过在纹理上滑动的指垫的“光学相干断层扫描”的直接成像，结合边界元和有限元方法来制定人类皮肤的接触力学的模型，所述边界元和有限元方法可用于表征和建模在与纹理的相互作用期间皮肤层内的响应。(2)制造触觉设备，实例化的模型机制和参数，以便重新创建皮肤纹理的相互作用。这些设备将包括一个引脚阵列，能够空间分布，高带宽控制的正常和横向激励，以及电磁触觉设备，使用嵌入铁磁颗粒的弹性体，以传输垂直和剪切力的用户响应可控磁场。(3)通过使用物理纹理和目标2的触觉设备的人类用户研究，使用心理物理学实验技术和更广泛的触觉界面研究，扩展和扩展模型。该目标将测试基于模型的致动是否足以创建丰富的触觉感知体验。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Modern virtual-reality devices attempt to create a realistic sense of touch in the absence of physical surfaces and objects, but as of yet they fall short. Indeed, no existing interfaces for the sense of touch, known as “haptic interfaces," are capable of replicating one of the most fundamental aspects of touch: how a textured surface feels during direct skin contact. Interfaces that simulate contact through a tool eliminate features that are available only from skin contact, but the interfaces that do allow direct skin contact are currently insufficient to convey material and fine-grained structural details of surfaces. Put simply, they do not feel realistic. This project promotes the progress of science and technology by providing a new approach to the design of haptic devices aimed at producing highly realistic virtual textures, and it will take a step towards understanding touch perception that addresses a previously unstudied component: the detailed physical interaction between the skin and the surface it contacts. The development of our proposed haptic technology and further understanding of our sense of touch can benefit applications in human-machine interaction, such as creating more immersive virtual environments and improving the control of remote robots. There are also multiple applications in education and virtual-reality development, especially for blind and visually impaired people, that would benefit from advanced understanding of touch perception and better tools for creating virtual experiences. In addition, as we know from past technological developments in the basic science of perception, such as the study of hearing that led to cutting-edge audio interfaces, it is likely that we underestimate the technological advancements that will result from a better understanding of this powerful sense modality.This project will develop novel haptic technologies based on three complementary objectives: (1) Formulate models of the contact mechanics of human skin using direct imaging by “Optical Coherence Tomography” of the fingerpad sliding over a texture, coupled with Boundary Element and Finite Element Methods that can be used to characterize and model responses within the skin layers during interactions with texture. (2) Fabricate haptic devices that instantiate the model mechanisms and parameters, so as to recreate skin-texture interactions. These devices will include a pin array capable of spatially distributed, high-bandwidth control of normal and lateral excitation, as well as an electromagnetic haptic device that uses elastomers embedded with ferromagnetic particles to transmit perpendicular and shear forces to the user in response to controllable magnetic fields. (3) Validate and extend the models by means of human-user studies with both physical textures and the haptic devices of Objective 2, using psychophysical experimental techniques and broader haptic interface studies. This objective will test whether model-based actuation is sufficient to create rich haptic perceptual experience. Success will establish principles for realistic texture rendering in next generation haptic devices.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.