HapticDrone is our new approach to transform a drone into a force-reflecting haptic interface. While our earlier work proved the concept, this paper concretizes it by implementing accurate force control along with effective encountered-type stiffness and weight rendering for 1D interaction as a first step. To this end, generated force is identified with respect to drone's thrust command, allowing a precise control of force. Force control is combined with tracking of drone and hand, turning the HapticDrone into an ideal end-effector for the encountered-type haptics and making the system ready for more sophisticated physics simulation. Stiffness and weight of a virtual object is our first target of the simulation. Conventional stiffness and gravity simulation is merged into the encountered-type position control scheme, allowing a user to feel the softness and weight of an object. We further confirmed the feasibility by proving that the system fulfills the physical performance requirements commonly needed for an encountered-type haptic interface, i.e., force rendering bandwidth, accuracy, and tracking performance.

The current research provides a perceptually transparent rendering algorithm for an ultrasound-based mid-air haptic device. In a series of experiments, we derive a systematic mapping function relating from the device command value to final user's perceived magnitude of a mid-air vibration feedback. The algorithm is designed for the ultrasonic mid-air haptic interface that is capable of displaying vibro-tactile feedback at a certain focal point in mid-air through ultrasound phased array technique. The perceived magnitude at the focal point is dependent on input parameters such as input command intensity, modulation frequency, and position of the focal point in the work-space. This algorithm automatically tunes these parameters to ensure that the desired perceived output at the user's hand is precisely controlled. Through a series of experiments, the effect of the aforementioned parameters on the physical output pressure are mapped, and the effect of this output pressure to the final perceived magnitude is formulated, resulting in the mapping from the different parameters to the perceived magnitude. Finally, the overall transparent rendering algorithm was evaluated, showing better perceptual quality than rendering with simple intensity command.

This paper presents a novel haptic texture authoring algorithm. The main goal of this algorithm is to synthesize new virtual textures by manipulating affective properties of real life textures. To this end, two different spaces are established: two-dimensional “affective space” built from a series of psychophysical experiments where textures are arranged according to affective properties (hard-soft, rough-smooth) and two-dimensional “haptic model space” where textures are placed based on features from tool-surface contact acceleration (movement-velocity, normal-force). Another space, called “authoring space” is formed to merge the two spaces; correlating changes in affective properties of real textures to changes in haptic signals in haptic space. The authoring space is constructed such that features of haptic model space that were highly correlated with affective space become axes of the space. As a result, new texture signal corresponding to any point in authoring space can be synthesized based on weighted interpolation of three nearest real surfaces in perceptually correct manner. The whole procedure including selection of nearest surfaces, finding weights, and weighted interpolation of multiple textures are evaluated through a psychophysical experiment, demonstrating competence of the approach. The results of evaluation experiment show an average normalized realism score of 94% for all authored textures.

This paper introduces a wearable pneumatic actuator, designed for providing multiple types of tactile feedback using a single end-effector. To this end, the actuator combines a 3D-printed framework consisting of five 0.5 DOF soft silicon air cells with a pneumatic system to deliver a range of tactile sensations through a single end-effector. The actuator is capable of producing diverse haptic feedback, including vibration, pressure, impact, and lateral force, controlled by an array of solenoid valves. The design’s focus on multimodality in a compact and lightweight form factor makes it highly suitable for wearable applications. It can produce a maximum static force of 8.3 N, vibrations with an acceleration of up to 3.15 g, and lateral forces of up to 3.3 N. The efficacy of the actuator is demonstrated through two distinct user studies: one focusing on perception, where users differentiated between lateral cues and vibration frequencies, and another within a first-person shooter gaming scenario, revealing enhanced user engagement and experience. The actuator’s adaptability to body sites and rich multimodal haptic feedback enables it to find applications in virtual reality, gaming, training simulations, and more.