Session: 12-28-01: Functional Soft Composites - Design, Mechanics, and Manufacturing

Paper Number: 146819

146819 - Wearable Multimodal Actuators for Full-Body High-Fidelity Haptics 

In our daily lives, we commonly perceive the world through five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. These senses allow us to actively or passively engage with our surroundings. In virtual environments, replicating these perceptions can significantly enhance the immersive experience. However, achieving realistic tactile sensations in virtual environments remains a challenge. While visual and auditory sensations can be reproduced with relative fidelity, tactile feedback often requires more innovative approaches.

Haptics, being a pivotal aspect of realism beyond visual and auditory perception, plays a crucial role in creating immersive experiences. Currently, most tactile feedback in virtual environments relies on compensatory measures rather than direct replication. However, replicating mechanical touch sensations perceived by the human body is integral to achieving a truly immersive experience.

In this work, we introduce the array of a pneumatic actuation module embedded with a bistable shell, designed to replicate full-skin multimodal sensation. This innovative device enables users to experience a wide range of sensations, from gentle touches to firm pressure, and even pain, with tunable force and frequency control. Unlike conventional compensation schemes, this device offers a more direct and realistic tactile experience, effectively mimicking corresponding sensations in our daily lives.

Through array control and rapid aerodynamic response, this device can swiftly map and synchronize with the virtual environment, facilitating various virtual interactions such as hugging, patting, or experiencing impacts, through point or block triggering. Quantitative user evaluations demonstrate that such haptic devices, capable of achieving multimodal perception, can deliver high-fidelity and deeply immersive virtual experiences.

Beyond virtual reality and augmented reality environments, the present haptic device holds promise for practical applications in areas such as remote healthcare or assistance for the visually impaired. By bridging the gap between physical and virtual realities, these innovations have the potential to revolutionize how we interact with technology and the world around us.

Presenting Author: Sentao Chen Westlake University

Presenting Author Biography: Doctoral student of Hanqing Jiang Lab, School of Engineering, Westlake University

Authors:

Sentao Chen Westlake University
Zhuang Zhang Westlake University
Zihang Yang Westlake University
Luoqian Emu Westlake University
Hanqing Jiang Westlake University