Master's Research
Project Details
Abstract: Ultrasonic haptics is at the forefront of human computer interaction and virtual reality allowing for the user to perceive touching a non-existent object in 3D space. This novel technology produces tactile sensations on the human skin by tracing midair focal points around the hand. The proposed project is as follows. An array of ultrasonic transducers is specifically designed to optimize the strength and accuracy of the focal points. A depth sensor is used to track the user’s hand movement. This tracking data is used to determine the tracing region. Algorithms are developed to decide the focal point locations and to have all transducers’ phases to focus on the same point. This allows for the maximum pressure to interact with the skin yielding the most realistic outcome. The described setup will allow users to feel invisible objects, experiencing a new generation of human controls and feedback.
Introduction: Humans are constantly interacting with technology every day and are pushing for more advances in touchless device interaction. Also, with the rise of remote communications such as Zoom, the ability to collaborate with colleagues on hands-on projects is becoming increasingly essential. Ultrasonic haptics can improve hands free controls and provide more realistic virtual reality experiences. This can be integrated in a wide range of products from vehicles to virtual reality. Advances in this field are continuing to push this novel technology towards being fully recognized and integrated in many different product domains.
The goal of this project is to fabricate an array of ultrasonic transducers in a custom 3D printed structure. Their phases target focal points determined by a depth sensor to facilitate a sense of touch. A depth sensor will be used to track the user’s hand position in real-time to allow accurate focal point detection. An algorithm will be used to feed the locational data to the transducers by altering their phase to all focus at one point in space. This allows for maximum midair pressure to interact with the user’s skin to create the most accurate and realistic outcome.
Setup: Array & Optical Hand Tracking Module
Leap Motion Controller
This optical hand tracking module is used to obtain the coordinates of the user's palm which are fed into the main ultrasonic array software. The software then calculates focal points on the user's hand according to the desired shape (ex. sphere).
Haptic Feedback
This lab provides a guide to work with ultrasonic applications utilizing ultrasonic transducers.
I have been using and analyzing their open source software to learn how I can design my own ultrasonic haptics project with hand tracking capabilities.
In order to analyze the serial data being sent to the Arduino Mega (attached to the transducer driver board), the Eltima Serial Port Monitor Software was used.
This software helped me correlate the sent data to the algorithm controlling the phase and amplitude of the transducers. I also was able to bypass the Ultraino software by sending serial data directly to the board from the Eltima program to speed up testing.
