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，但迄今为止它们还不够。事实上，目前还没有一种被称为“触觉界面”的触觉界面能够复制触觉的最基本方面之一：在皮肤直接接触时，纹理表面的感觉如何。通过工具模拟接触的界面消除了只能通过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，它们让人感觉不现实。该项目通过提供一种旨在产生高度逼真的虚拟纹理的触觉设备设计的新方法，促进了科学和技术的进步，它将朝着理解触摸感知迈出一步，解决了一个以前未研究的组成部分：皮肤与其接触表面之间的详细物理相互作用。我们提出的触觉技术的发展和对我们触觉的进一步理解可以有利于人机交互的应用，例如创造更多沉浸式虚拟环境和改进远程机器人的控制。在教育和虚拟现实开发方面也有多种应用，特别是对于盲人和视障人士，这将受益于对触摸感知的先进理解和更好的工具来创建虚拟体验。此外，正如我们从过去感知基础科学的技术发展中所知道的那样，例如听觉研究导致了尖端的音频接口，我们很可能低估了对这种强大的感觉模态的更好理解所带来的技术进步。该项目将基于三个互补的目标开发新的触觉技术：(1)利用手指板在纹理上滑动的“光学相干断层扫描”直接成像，结合边界元和有限元方法，制定人体皮肤接触力学模型，这些方法可用于表征和模拟皮肤层内与纹理相互作用时的响应。(2)制作实例化模型机制和参数的触觉装置，以重现皮肤-纹理的相互作用。这些设备将包括一个能够空间分布、高带宽控制正常和横向激励的引脚阵列，以及一个电磁触觉设备，该设备使用嵌入铁磁颗粒的弹性体来响应可控磁场，向用户传输垂直和剪切力。(3)利用心理物理实验技术和更广泛的触觉界面研究，通过物理纹理和目标2的触觉装置的人类用户研究来验证和扩展模型。这个目标将测试基于模型的驱动是否足以创造丰富的触觉感知体验。成功将为下一代触觉设备的逼真纹理渲染建立原则。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识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.