In a game-changing invention,
engineers at Disney Research, Pittsburgh, have
developed a new technique that allows you to feel the texture of objects seen
on a flat touchscreen.
The novel algorithm enables a person
sliding a finger across a topographic map displayed
on atouchscreen to feel the bumps and curves of hills and
valleys, despite the screen's smooth surface.
The technique is based on the fact
that when a person slides a finger over a real physical bump, he
perceives the bump largely because lateral friction forces stretch and compress
skin on the sliding finger.
By altering the friction encountered
as a person's fingertip glides across a surface, the Disney algorithm can
create a perception of a 3D bump on a touch surface. The method can be
used to simulate the feel of a wide variety of objects and textures.
"Our brain perceives the 3D bump
on a surface mostly from information that it receives via skin
stretching," said Ivan Poupyrev, who directs Disney Research, Pittsburgh's Interaction Group.
"Therefore, if we can
artificially stretch skin on a finger as it slides on the touchscreen, the
brain will be fooled into thinking an actual physical bump is on a touchscreen
even though the touch surface is completely smooth," Poupyrev said in a
statement.
In experiments, researchers used electro
vibration to modulate the friction between the sliding finger and the touch
surface with electrostatic forces. Researchers created and validated a psychophysical
model that closely simulates friction forces perceived by the human finger when
it slides over a real bump.
The model was then incorporated into
an algorithm that dynamically modulates the frictional forces on a sliding
finger so that they match the tactile properties of the visual content displayed
on the touchscreen along the finger's path.
A broad variety of visual artifacts
thus can be dynamically enhanced with tactile feedback that adjusts as the
visual display. "The traditional approach to tactile feedback is to
have a library of canned effects that are played back whenever a particular
interaction occurs," said Ali Israr, a Disney Research, Pittsburgh
research engineer who was the lead on the project.
"This makes it difficult to
create a tactile feedback for dynamic visual
content, where the sizes and orientation of features constantly change. With
our algorithm we do not have one or two effects, but a set of controls that
make it possible to tune tactile effects to a specific visual artifact on the
fly," Israr said.
The new research will be presented at
the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology in St Andrews,
Scotland.
Source: Times Of India
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