VR Skin Stressing Actuators for Realistic Tactile Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current virtual reality systems lack effective means to provide tactile feedback, limiting the immersive experience by not simulating realistic interactions with virtual objects.
Innovation Solution
The use of actuators that stress or strain against the user's skin, such as tendons coupled to motors, pads with driving mechanisms, and inflatable bladders, to provide varying levels of tactile feedback by moving or stretching the skin, mimicking the sensation of interacting with virtual objects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If actuators are used to provide tactile feedback by stressing or straining the user's skin, then the immersive experience and realism of virtual object interactions are improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the user's own skin as an intermediary medium to transmit tactile feedback. Instead of directly applying complex actuators to the skin, the system uses tendons, pads, or pins that interact with the skin's surface properties to generate realistic tactile sensations. This leverages the skin's natural mechanical properties as a mediator between the actuator and the user's perception.
Solution Approach 2:
The system varies tactile feedback parameters such as the direction, magnitude, and type of force applied to different skin regions. By changing these parameters dynamically based on virtual object interactions, the system achieves diverse tactile sensations (weight, texture, resistance) without requiring fundamentally different actuator mechanisms for each sensation type.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple types of actuators (tendons, pads, pins, bladders) are implemented to provide varied tactile feedback, then the adaptability and versatility of tactile interaction are improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent describes a unified actuator system where a single actuator can perform multiple functions by interacting with different regions of the skin. The actuator may simultaneously provide normal force, tangential friction force, and twisting moments depending on the engagement configuration, eliminating the need for separate specialized actuators for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the engagement configuration between the actuator and skin during operation. The actuator can transition between different modes of interaction (pushing, sliding, twisting) based on real-time control signals, allowing a single mechanical component to deliver varied tactile feedback types without physical reconfiguration.
3Measurement precision
If actuators apply force normal to and parallel to the skin surface to move skin portions, then the tactile feedback accuracy and realism are improved, but the use of energy increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies forces selectively to specific skin regions rather than uniformly across the entire contact area. By targeting only the necessary portions of skin required for the current interaction, the system achieves precise tactile feedback with reduced energy expenditure compared to full-surface actuation.
Solution Approach 2:
The actuator applies forces in periodic or pulsed sequences rather than continuous application. This allows the skin to respond elastically to each pulse while minimizing the total energy required, leveraging the skin's natural mechanical response characteristics to achieve precise tactile sensation with intermittent actuation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances the immersive experience by providing realistic tactile feedback, allowing users to perceive weight and texture, thereby simulating more realistic interactions with virtual objects.
Implementation Method 1
As the tendon moves, portions of the user's body contacting the tendon are stretched, providing tactile feedback to the user
Implementation Method 2
a pin is coupled to a piezoelectric motor or a voice coil linear motor that repositions the pin in response to one or more instructions from a component of the VR system
Implementation Method 3
a pin is coupled to a piezoelectric motor or a voice coil linear motor that repositions the pin in response to one or more instructions from a component of the VR system
Data Source
AI summary
An input interface for a virtual reality (VR) system includes one or more actuators stressing or straining a portion of a user's skin, simulating interactions with presented virtual objects. For example, an actuator comprises a tendon contacting portions of a user's body and coupled to a motor that moves the tendon to move portions of the user's body contacting the tendon. Alternatively, an actuator includes a pad having a surface contacting a surface of the user's body. A driving mechanism moves the pad in one or more directions parallel to the surface of the user's body with varying levels of normal force. In another example, one or more pins contact portions of the user's body and a surface of a bladder. The pins move as the bladder is inflated or deflated, which moves the contacted portions of the user's body. Alternatively, another type of actuator may move the pins.