Touch-screens are quite common in mobiles, smartphones and tablet computers nowadays. They allow us to control and command the computer according to our requirement. A sense of touch is something different; it is sensing an object displayed on your computer screen. Imagine seeing a rose on your computer screen and by reaching out with your fingers, feel the softness of its petals.
This amazing possibility is the result of a non-mechanical haptic interface that allows computer users to manipulate a three-dimensional object on the screen of a computer to receive tactile response from the surroundings of the object. In short, you can reach out to touch and feel the object displayed on your computer.
The haptic interface uses flotor, a device shaped like an inverted umbrella and it contains coils of wire. It also has a control handle, which the user moves to interact with powerful magnets underneath. Electronic circuitry transfers the motion on to the screen that responds when an object collides with anything in the virtual world.
Normally, you are able to see and hear the information displayed on your computer screen. Touching the image to feel its texture and movement was not an option until now. At Carnegie Mellon University of Pittsburgh, PA, Dr. Ralph Hollis is working on his specialization, haptics – the science and technology of touch.
The user has to grasp a handle inside a sphere that is attached to a desktop computer. The handle connects to an object that looks more like an upside-down umbrella and it is called a flotor. The flotor carries electrical current flowing through electrical coils. All this is immersed in a powerful magnetic field, created by several permanent magnets.
Normally, the magnetic field allows the handle to float freely inside the sphere. The user can move and rotate the handle to control the position of a 3-D object on the computer screen. As soon as the object touches something in the virtual world, the user can immediately feel it.
Although there are many other haptic devices around, the concept of grabbing a motorized arm to interact with the computer is unique. Dr. Hollis has used magnetic levitation to make a direct connection between the user’s hand and the software. The result is direct and immediate feedback.
Briefly, haptics brings touch within a digital environment. This may give you the feel of resistance when you use a joystick in a game or give you touch sensation when using gloves in a virtual reality environment. Using haptics, the user gets an instant feedback when an object collides with another and does not have to rely only on what he sees. You can estimate what it feels like when you have to walk when your foot has fallen asleep. Adding the feeling of touch to a virtual environment makes interactions more life-like and similar to the benefit you have when you have full feeling in your feet.
At present, haptics works only with objects that are magnetic by nature, that is, objects attracted by magnets.
