Haptic Controller with Movable Arm and Thumb Sensor
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current haptic devices for virtual and augmented reality lack refinement in providing tactile feedback, are expensive, cumbersome to use, and often provide unnatural interactions, limiting the immersion and realism of computer-generated environments.
Innovation Solution
A haptic controller with a movable arm and stationary member, equipped with sensors and actuators, that allows for various interaction modes such as touch, grasping, and trigger modes, and includes rotatable haptic elements to simulate different textures and forces, enabling natural and intuitive user interactions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If exoskeleton gloves or suits are used to provide haptic feedback, then tactile feedback capability is improved, but device complexity and ease of operation deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The haptic feedback system is segmented into modular components: a controller unit with actuators, a display device with sensors, and interchangeable haptic elements. This segmentation allows the system to provide complex haptic feedback without requiring a full exoskeleton suit, reducing overall device complexity while maintaining feedback capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The controller is designed as a universal device that can provide multiple types of haptic feedback (vibration, pressure, resistance) through interchangeable haptic elements. This multi-functionality replaces the need for specialized exoskeleton gloves or suits for different feedback types, simplifying the overall system.
2Reliability
If exoskeleton gloves or suits are used to provide haptic feedback, then tactile feedback capability is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the display device itself (which the user is already wearing or holding) to provide haptic feedback, eliminating the need for separate exoskeleton gloves or suits. The display device serves dual purposes: visual display and haptic feedback delivery, making the system easier to operate.
Solution Approach 2:
The haptic feedback functionality is merged with the display device, combining visual and tactile output into a single integrated system. This eliminates the need for users to don separate haptic devices, improving ease of operation while maintaining feedback capability.
3Reliability
If traditional haptic devices are used, then tactile feedback is provided, but adaptability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adapts the type and intensity of haptic feedback based on the displayed content and user interaction. Different haptic elements can be selectively activated or deactivated, and feedback parameters can be adjusted in real-time, providing high adaptability while maintaining reliable tactile feedback.
Solution Approach 2:
The system can change haptic feedback parameters (vibration frequency, amplitude, duration, type of haptic element) based on the context of the displayed content. This allows a single device to adapt to various applications without requiring multiple specialized devices.
4Reliability
If high-fidelity haptic feedback is provided, then immersion is improved, but device complexity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the display device as an intermediary to deliver haptic feedback, leveraging existing hardware infrastructure. This approach provides high-fidelity feedback through carefully controlled actuation of display components rather than requiring complex dedicated haptic hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replicates realistic tactile sensations by using actuators to simulate physical interactions (such as vibration patterns mimicking surface textures or resistance mimicking object weight) without requiring actual physical objects or complex mechanical replicas.
Data Source
AI summary
A controller is provided that can provide haptic feedback to a user by controlling a separation of a stationary portion and a moveable portion, such as a moveable arm, which can include one or more mounts for one or more of a user's fingers. A sensor can be included on the stationary portion to sense whether the user's thumb is proximate a thumb rest. Different haptic interaction modes can be set depending on whether the user's thumb is not proximate the sensor, such as a touch mode, or is proximate the sensor, such as a grasping or trigger mode. When grasping and trigger modes are provided, they can be determined based on the nature of a virtual object grasped by a user. Additional haptic sensations can be provided, such as to a user's fingertip, such as by a vibratory component or a rotatable object of one or more haptic elements.