EAGER: Preliminary Investigation of Virtual Tactual Stereognosis

EAGER：虚拟触觉立体识别的初步研究

• 批准号: 0941581
• 负责人: James Colgate
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-07-01 至 2011-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0941581&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Preliminary; Investigation; Virtual; Tactual; EAGER; Preliminary; Investigation; Virtual; Tactual

Imagine reaching into your pocket, locating and grasping your car;'s key fob amongst a clutter of coins, bills and keys, then finding the unlock button (not the lock button, not the trunk release, especially not the panic button) and pressing it. This is an example of Tactual Stereognosis (TS), the ability of people to identify familiar items using touch alone. It is commonplace and uneventful. Yet no programmable haptic interface has ever been developed that would allow people to identify virtual objects using what might be termed Virtual Tactual Stereognosis (VTS). Creating such an interface is a long-range goal of the PIs. VTS has long been out of reach because it depends on active touch, multi-finger interaction, and bare fingertips, which are all difficult to achieve with existing display technology. The PIs' recent research has led to a new class of prototype devices (xPaDs), which address each of these limitations. These devices use friction modulation to control forces between the fingertip and a flat plate. The basic TPaD (Tactile Pattern Display) can create effects such as virtual textures, virtual bumps and holes, and more. More advanced versions such as the ShiverPad and SwirlPad synchronize in-plane vibrations to friction levels in order to generate active pushing forces on the fingertip. It is possible to generate many additional effects with these devices, including virtual edges that can be traced with the fingertip. The xPaD devices thus appear to be well suited to VTS. They are active touch devices that work with bare fingertips (in other words, the xPaD is fixed and the finger slides over it). Moreover, they are very compact, potentially enabling multiple panels to be arrayed over the surface of an object in order to support a multi-finger interface. In this study the PIs will begin exploration of a multi-xPaD interface, by performing experiments on an interface consisting of two opposing ShiverPads with subjects employing a pinch grip (that is, index finger on one ShiverPaD, and thumb on the other), in order to demonstrate "binding," the perceptual fusion of the finger and thumb percepts into an integrated object representation.Broader Impacts: Virtual Tactual Stereognosis is an important goal for many reasons. Graphical displays have become an important form of interface in venues ranging from the living room, to the office, to the car, to any place that a person may be. Yet as graphical displays grow more prevalent, natural touch interactions seemingly grow more obsolete. VTS aims to achieve the opposite, to empower future interfaces with sophisticated tactual capabilities that engage perceptual as well as sensory mechanisms in the hand and brain. Imagine a doctor able to simultaneously look at and palpate tissue within the body, a pregnant mother able to caress the ultrasound image of her unborn child, an autistic child able to cooperate with an animated character in a construction task, or a driver able to reach out, find and operate touch screen controls without taking his/her eyes off the road. VTS would be an enabler for new types of electronic displays for the blind. And it would be a powerful new tool to extend our basic knowledge of haptic perception as it occurs naturally.

想象一下，伸到口袋里，找到并抓住汽车；在硬币，账单和钥匙的混乱中的钥匙，然后找到解锁按钮（而不是锁定按钮，而不是中继线释放，尤其是恐慌按钮），然后按下它。 这是触觉立体认知（TS）的一个例子，即人们仅使用触摸来识别熟悉的项目的能力。 这是司空见惯的。 然而，从未开发任何可编程的触觉界面，可以使人们使用可能称为虚拟触觉立体认知（VTS）识别虚拟对象。 创建这样的接口是PI的远程目标。 长期以来，VT一直无法触及，因为它取决于主动触摸，多手指的互动和裸露的指尖，而现有的显示技术都很难实现。 PIS的最新研究导致了一类新的原型设备（XPADS），这些设备解决了这些局限性。 这些设备使用摩擦调制来控制指尖和平板之间的力。 基本的TPAD（触觉图案显示）可以创建诸如虚拟纹理，虚拟颠簸和孔等效果。 更先进的版本，例如Shiverpad和漩涡板将面板内振动同步到摩擦水平，以便在指尖上产生主动推动力。 这些设备可以产生许多其他效果，包括可以用指尖追踪的虚拟边缘。 因此，XPAD设备似乎非常适合VT。 它们是裸露指尖工作的主动触摸设备（换句话说，XPAD是固定的，手指滑到其上）。此外，它们非常紧凑，有可能使多个面板在对象的表面上驱动，以支持多指界面。 在这项研究中，PI将通过在由两个相对的shiverpads组成的界面上进行实验来开始探索多XPAD界面出于多种原因，立体认知是一个重要目标。 图形显示已成为从客厅，办公室，汽车到一个人可能属于的任何地方的场地中界面的一种重要形式。 然而，随着图形显示越来越普遍，自然触摸相互作用似乎变得更加过时。 VTS旨在实现相反的目标，以使未来的接口具有复杂的触觉能力，这些功能可以参与手和大脑的感知机制。 想象一下，医生能够同时看和触诊身体内的组织，一个怀孕的母亲，能够抚摸未出生孩子的超声图像，一个自闭症儿童，能够在施工任务中与动画角色合作，或者能够在不带他的眼睛的情况下伸出，找到和操作触摸屏的驾驶员。 VT将是盲人的新型电子显示器的推动者。 这将是一种强大的新工具，可以扩展我们对触觉感知的基本知识，因为它自然而然地发生了。