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出一种逼真的触觉，但到目前为止，它们还不够。事实上，现有的触觉界面，也就是所谓的“触觉界面”，无法复制触觉最基本的一个方面：有纹理的表面在直接皮肤接触时的感觉。通过工具模拟接触的界面消除了只能通过蒙皮接触提供的功能，但允许直接蒙皮接触的界面目前不足以传达材质和曲面的细粒度结构细节。简而言之，他们感觉不现实。该项目通过提供一种旨在产生高度逼真虚拟纹理的触觉设备设计的新方法来促进科学和技术的进步，并将朝着理解触摸感知迈出一步，该触摸感知解决了以前未研究过的一个组成部分：皮肤与其接触的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将有助于人机交互方面的应用，例如创建更具沉浸感的虚拟环境和改善对远程机器人的控制。在教育和虚拟现实开发中也有多种应用，特别是针对盲人和视障人士的应用，这将受益于对触摸感知的先进理解和创造虚拟体验的更好工具。此外，我们从感知基础科学的过去技术发展中了解到，如导致尖端音频接口的听觉研究，我们很可能低估了更好地理解这种强大的感觉模式所带来的技术进步。这个项目将基于三个互补的目标开发新的触觉技术：(1)通过指垫在纹理上滑动的直接成像，结合边界元和有限元方法，建立人类皮肤接触机制的模型，这些方法可以用来描述和建模皮肤层与纹理相互作用的反应。(2)制作触觉装置，实例化模型机理和参数，以重现皮肤-纹理交互作用。这些设备将包括能够在空间上分布的高带宽控制法向和横向激励的引脚阵列，以及使用嵌入铁磁性颗粒的弹性体响应可控磁场向用户传递垂直和剪切力的电磁触觉设备。(3)使用心理物理实验技术和更广泛的触觉界面研究，通过使用目标2的物理纹理和触觉设备的人-用户研究来验证和扩展模型。这一目标将检验基于模型的驱动是否足以创造丰富的触觉感知体验。Success将为下一代触觉设备的真实感纹理渲染建立原则。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.