Haptic Authoring Tool for Vibrotactile Array Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current haptic feedback technologies lack effective authoring tools for creating rich, universally applicable haptic content, especially for systems with multiple actuators, which are often cumbersome and complicated due to the need for individual control of each actuator.
Innovation Solution
The development of systems and methods for creating haptic animation objects with positional and dimensional properties, using a rendering algorithm to compute vector profiles and intensity values for each actuator in a vibrotactile array, allowing for dynamic and expressive haptic media production independent of hardware implementation, with features like keyframe editing and device-independent rendering.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If existing multi-actuator haptic tools are used, then multiple actuators can be controlled, but the authoring process becomes cumbersome and complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the complex multi-actuator control problem into manageable components by introducing hierarchical abstraction levels: haptic animation objects represent high-level intent, while the rendering algorithm automatically decomposes this into individual actuator control signals. This segmentation allows artists to work at an abstract level without managing the complexity of individual actuators.
Solution Approach 2:
The rendering algorithm acts as an intermediary between the artist's high-level haptic animation object definitions and the low-level actuator control signals. This intermediary automatically computes the vector profiles and intensity values for each actuator, eliminating the need for artists to manually configure each actuator while still achieving precise multi-actuator control.
2Ease of manufacture
If existing haptic authoring tools are used, then haptic content can be created, but the tools lack universal applicability across different haptic hardware configurations
Solution Approach 1:
The system achieves universality by designing haptic animation objects with hardware-agnostic positional and dimensional properties that can be rendered to any vibrotactile array configuration. The rendering algorithm adapts the same high-level object definitions to different hardware configurations, allowing a single haptic content creation process to work across diverse haptic devices without requiring hardware-specific tooling.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes parameters from hardware-specific control signals to hardware-agnostic spatial and temporal properties of haptic animation objects. By defining haptic content in terms of position, size, and timing rather than actuator-specific parameters, the system enables universal haptic content creation that automatically adapts to different hardware configurations through parameter transformation during rendering.
3Device complexity
If single-actuator tools are used, then the tool design is simple, but systems with multiple actuators cannot be effectively controlled
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from one-dimensional actuator indexing to two-dimensional spatial reasoning by representing haptic objects with positional and dimensional properties in space. This dimensional change allows the same simple object definition framework to naturally extend from single-actuator to multi-actuator systems, as the rendering algorithm maps spatial object properties to the appropriate actuator array configuration.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, methods, and computer program products to perform an operation comprising receiving input specifying one or more positional and dimensional properties of a first haptic animation object in an animation tool displaying a representation of a vibrotactile array comprising a plurality of actuators configured to output haptic feedback, computing, based on a rendering algorithm applied to the first haptic animation object, a vector profile for each of the actuators, and computing an intensity value for each of the actuators based on the vector profile of the respective actuator.