A SEMINAR REPORT
On
HAPTIC TECHNOLOGY
Submitted to
MALLA REDDY ENGINEERING COLLEGE
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
In
Electronics And Communication Engineering
By
G. Uday Kiran
Regd. No.:20J41A0421
DEPARTMENT OF ECE
MALLA REDDY ENGINEERING COLLEGE
(An UGC Autonomous Institution, Approved by AICTE, New Delhi & Affiliated
to JNTUH, Hyderabad) Maisammaguda(H), Medchal-Malkajgiri District,
Secunderabad,Telangana-500100’ [Link]
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MALLA REDDY ENGINEERING COLLEGE
(An UGC Autonomous Institution, Approved by AICTE, New Delhi & Affiliated
to JNTUH,
Hyderabad)
Maisammaguda(H), Medchal-Malkajgiri District, Secunderabad,Telangana-
500100’
[Link]
DEPARTMENT OF ECE
CERTIFICATE
Certified seminar work entitled “Haptic Technology” is a bonafide work carried out
in the eight semester by “G. Uday Kiran” in Partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the award of the degree of Technology in Electronics & Communication
Engineering College, during the academic year 2023-2024.
I wish her/him success in all future endeavors.
Seminar Coordinator Internal Examiner Head of Department
M. Nandha Kumar (Dr. MJC Prasad)
Associate Professor Professor & HOD
Place:
Date:
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Acknowledgement
We would like to express our sincere thanks to Dr. A. Ramaswami Reddy,
Principal, MREC(A) for providing the working facilities in the college.
Our sincere thanks and gratitude to Dr. M. Jagadeesh Chandra Prasad, Professor
& Head, Department of ECE, MREC(A) for all the timely support and valuable
suggestions during the period of our seminar.
We are thankful to our project Coordinator M. Nandha Kumar, Associate
Professor, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, for her
cooperation during the seminar presentation.
Finally, we would also like to thank all the faculty and staff of the ECE Department
who helped us directly or indirectly, Parents and friends for their cooperation in
completing the seminar presentation.
Name: G. Uday Kiran
Regd No.: 20J41A0421
Section: ECE-A
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ABSTRACT
Users are given the illusion that they are touching or Manipulating a real Physical Object ‘Haptics’
is a technology that adds the sense of touch to virtual environments..
This seminar discusses the important concepts in Haptics, some of the most commonly used
haptics systems like ‘Phantom’, ‘Cyber glove’, ‘Novint Falcon’ and such similar devices.
Following this, a description about how sensors and actuators are used for tracking the position
and movement of the haptic systems, is provided.
The different types of force rendering algorithms are discussed next. The seminar explains the
blocks in force rendering. Then a few applications of haptic systems are taken up for discussion.
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Contents
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 What is Haptics?
1.2 History of Haptics.
CHAPTER 2 WORKING OF HAPTICS
2.1Basic System Configuration.
2.2Haptic Information
2.3Creation of Virtual environment (Virtual reality).
2.4Haptic feedback
CHAPTER 3 HAPTICDEVICES
3.1Virtual reality/ Tele-robotics based devices
3.1.1 Exoskeletons and Stationary device
3.1.2 Gloves and wearable devices
3.1.3 Point-source and Specific task devices
3.1.4 Locomotion Interfaces
3.2 Feedback devices
3.2.1 Force feedback devices
3.2.2 Tactile displays
3.3 Commonly used haptic interfacing devices
3.3.2 Cyber glove
CHAPTER 4 HAPTIC RENDERING
4.1 Principle of haptic interface
4.2Characteristics commonly considered desirable for haptic interface devices 14
4.3 Geometry-dependent force-rendering algorithms
4.7 Surface property-dependent force-rendering algorithms
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CHAPTER 5 APPLICATIONS, LIMITATION & FUTURE VISION
5.1 Application
5.1.1 Graphical user interfaces
5.1.2 Surgical Simulation and Medical Training
5.1.3 Military Training in virtual environment
5.1.4 Tele robotics
5.2 Limitation
5.3 Future vision
6. Conclusion
LIST OF FIGURES
Fig. No. Topics Page No.
Fig. 2.1 Basic Configuration of Haptics 9
Fig. 2.2 Virtual environment 11
Fig. 2.3 Haptic Feedback Block Diagram 12
Fig. 3.2 Cyber glove (Haptic Device) 15
Fig. 4.1 Haptics Rendering System 16
Fig. 5.1 Graphical Interface for Laptop Games 19
Fig. 5.2 Medical Training Purpose 20
Fig. 5.3 Virtual Environment in Military Training 21
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 What is ‘Haptics’?
Haptic technology refers to technology that interfaces the user with a virtual environment via the
sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations, and/or motions to the user. This mechanical
stimulation may be used to assist in the creation of virtual objects (objects existing only in a
computer simulation), for control of such virtual objects, and to enhance the remote control of
machines and devices (teleoperators). This emerging technology promises to have wide reaching
applications as it already has in some fields. For example, haptic technology has made it possible
to investigate in detail how the human sense of touch works by allowing the creation of carefully
controlled haptic virtual objects. These objects are used to systematically probe human haptic
capabilities, which would otherwise be difficult to achieve. These new research tools contribute to
our understanding of how touch and its underlying brain functions work. Although haptic devices
are capable of measuring bulk or reactive forces that are applied by the user, it should not to be
confused with touch or tactile sensors that measure the pressure or force exerted by the user to the
interface. The term haptic originated from the Greek word πτικός ( ἁ haptikos) meaning pertaining
to the sense of touch and comes from the Greek verb πτεσθαι ( ἅ haptesthai) meaning to “contact”
or “touch.
1.2 History of Haptics
In the early 20th century, psychophysicists introduced the word haptic to label the subfield of their
studies that addressed human touch-based perception and manipulation. In the 1970s and 1980s,
significant research efforts in a completely different field, robotics also began to focus on
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manipulation and perception by touch. Initially concerned with building autonomous robots,
researchers soon found that building a dexterous robotic hand was much more complex and subtle
than their initial naive hopes had suggested. In time these two communities, one that sought to
understand the human hand and one that aspired to create devices with dexterity inspired by human
abilities found fertile mutual interest in topics such as sensory design and processing, grasp control
and manipulation, object representation and haptic information encoding, and grammars for
describing physical tasks.
In the early 1990s a new usage of the word haptics began to emerge. The confluence of emerging
technologies made virtualized haptics, or computer haptics possible. Much like computer graphics,
computer haptics enables the display of simulated objects to humans in an interactive manner.
However, computer haptics uses a display technology through which objects can be physically
palpated.
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CHAPTER 2
WORKING OF HAPTICS
2.1 Basic system configuration.
Fig 2.1 Basic Configuration of Haptics
Basically a haptic system consist of two parts namely the human part and the machine part. In the
figure shown above, the human part (left) senses and controls the position of the hand, while
the machine part (right) exerts forces from the hand to simulate contact with a virtual object. Also
both the systems will be provided with necessary sensors, processors and actuators. In the case of
the human system, nerve receptors performs sensing, brain performs processing and muscles
performs actuation of the motion performed by the hand while in the case of the machine system,
the above mentioned functions are performed by the encoders, computer and motors respectively.
2.2 Haptic Information
Basically the haptic information provided by the system will be the combination of
(i)Tactile information and
(ii) Kinesthetic information.
Tactile information refers the information acquired by the sensors which are actually connected to
the skin of the human body with a particular reference to the spatial distribution of pressure, or
more generally, tractions, across the contact area.
For example when we handle flexible materials like fabric and paper, we sense the pressure
variation across the fingertip. This is actually a sort of tactile information.
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Tactile sensing is also the basis of complex perceptual tasks like medical palpation, where
physicians locate hidden anatomical structures and evaluate tissue properties using their hands.
Kinesthetic information refers to the information acquired through the sensors in the joints.
Interaction forces are normally perceived through a combination of these two information’s.
2.3 Creation of Virtual environment (Virtual reality).
Virtual reality is the technology which allows a user to interact with a computer simulated
environment, whether that environment is a simulation of the real world or an imaginary world.
Most current virtual reality environments are primarily visual experiences, displayed either on a
computer screen or through special or stereoscopic displays, but some simulations include
additional sensory information, such as sound through speakers or headphones. Some advanced,
haptic systems now include tactile information, generally known as force feedback, in medical and
gaming applications. Users can interact with a virtual environment or a virtual artifact (VA) either
through the use of standard input devices such as a keyboard and mouse, or through multimodal
devices such as a wired glove, the Polhemus boom arm, and omnidirectional treadmill. The
simulated environment can be similar to the real world, for example, simulations for pilot or
combat training, or it can differ significantly from reality, as in VR games. In practice, it is
currently very difficult to create a high-fidelity virtual reality experience, due largely to technical
limitations on processing power,image resolution and communication bandwidth.
However, those limitations are expected to eventually be overcome as processor, imaging and data
communication technologies become more powerful and cost-effective over time. Virtual Reality
is often used to describe a wide variety of applications, commonly associated with its immersive,
highly visual, 3D environments. The development of CAD software, graphics hardware
acceleration, head mounted displays; database gloves and miniaturization have helped popularize
the motion. The most successful use of virtual reality is the computer generated 3-D simulators.
The pilots use flight simulators. These flight simulators have designed just like cockpit of the
airplanes or the helicopter. The screen in front of the pilot creates virtual environment and the
trainers outside the simulators commands the simulator for adopt different modes. The pilots are
trained to control the planes in different difficult situations and emergency landing. The simulator
provides the environment. These simulators cost millions of dollars.
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Fig 2.2 Virtual environment
The virtual reality games are also used almost in the same fashion. The player has to wear special
gloves, headphones, goggles, full body wearing and special sensory input devices. The player feels
that he is in the real environment. The special goggles have monitors to see. The environment
changes according to the moments of the player. These games are very expensive.
2.4 Haptic feedback
Virtual reality (VR) applications strive to simulate real or imaginary scenes with which users can
interact and perceive the effects of their actions in real time. Ideally the user interacts with the
simulation via all five senses. However, today’s typical VR applications rely on a smaller subset,
typically vision, hearing, and more recently, touch. Figure below shows the structure of a VR
application incorporating visual, auditory, and haptic feedback.
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Fig 2.3 Haptic Feedback Block Diagram
The application’s main elements are:
1) The simulation engine, responsible for computing the virtual environments Behavior over time;
2) Visual, auditory, and haptic rendering algorithms, which compute the virtual Environment’s
graphic, sound, and force responses toward the user; and
3) Transducers, which convert visual, audio, and force signals from the Computer into a form the
operator can perceive.
The human operator typically holds or wears the haptic interface device and perceives audiovisual
feedback from audio (computer speakers, headphones, and so on) and visual displays (for example
a computer screen or head-mounted display). Whereas audio and visual channels feature
unidirectional information and energy flow (from the simulation engine toward the user), the
haptic modality exchanges information and energy in two directions, from and toward the user.
This bi-directionality is often referred to as the single most important feature of the haptic
interaction modality.
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Chapter 3
HAPTIC DEVICES
A haptic device is the one that provides a physical interface between the user and the virtual
environment by means of a computer. This can be done through an input/output device that senses
the body’s movement, such as joystick or data glove. By using haptic devices, the user can not
only feed information to the computer but can also receive information from the computer in the
form of a felt sensation on some part of the body. This is referred to as a haptic interface.
These devices can be broadly classified into:-
3.1 Virtual reality/ Tele-robotics based devices:-
3.1.1 Exoskeletons and Stationary device
3.1.2 Gloves and wearable devices
3.1.3 Point-source and Specific task devices
3.1.4 Locomotion Interfaces
3.2 Feedback devices:-
3.2.1 Force feedback devices
3.2.2 Tactile displays
3.1 Virtual reality/Tele-robotics based devices:-
3.1.1 Exoskeletons and Stationary devices
The term exoskeleton refers to the hard outer shell that exists on many creatures. In a technical
sense, the word refers to a system that covers the user or the user has to wear. Current haptic
devices that are classified as exoskeletons are large and immobile systems that the user must attach
him or her to.
3.1.2 Gloves and wearable devices
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These devices are smaller exoskeleton-like devices that are often, but not always, take the down
by a large exoskeleton or other immobile devices. Since the goal of building a haptic system is to
be able to immerse a user in the virtual or remote environment and it is important to provide a
small remainder of the user’s actual environment as possible.
The drawback of the wearable systems is that since weight and size of the devices are a concern,
the systems will have more limited sets of capabilities.
3.1.3 Point sources and specific task devices
This is a class of devices that are very specialized for performing a particular given task. Designing
a device to perform a single type of task restricts the application of that device to a much smaller
number of functions. However it allows the designer to focus the device to perform its task
extremely well. These task devices have two general forms, single point of interface devices and
specific task devices.
3.1.4 Locomotion interface
An interesting application of haptic feedback is in the form of full body Force Feedback called
locomotion interfaces. Locomotion interfaces are movement of force restriction devices in a
confined space, simulating unrestrained mobility such as walking and running for virtual reality.
These interfaces overcomes the limitations of using joysticks for maneuvering or whole body
motion platforms, in which the user is seated and does not expend energy, and of room
environments, where only short distances can be traversed.
3.2 Feedback Devices:-
3.2.1 Force feedback devices
Force feedback input devices are usually, but not exclusively, connected to computer systems and
is designed to apply forces to simulate the sensation of weight and resistance in order to provide
information to the user. As such, the feedback hardware represents a more sophisticated form of
input/output devices, complementing others such as keyboards, mice or trackers. Input from the
user in the form of hand, or other body segment whereas feedback from the computer or other
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device is in the form of hand, or other body segment whereas feedback from the computer or other
device is in the form of force or position. These devices translate digital information into physical
sensations.
3.2.2 Tactile display devices
Simulation task involving active exploration or delicate manipulation of a virtual environment
require the addition of feedback data that presents an object’s surface geometry or texture. Such
feedback is provided by tactile feedback systems or tactile display devices. Tactile systems differ
from haptic systems in the scale of the forces being generated. While haptic interfaces will present
the shape, weight or compliance of an object, tactile interfaces present the surface properties of an
object such as the object’s surface texture. Tactile feedback applies sensation to the skin.
3.3 Commonly used haptic interfacing device :-
3.3.1Cyber glove
Fig 3.2 Cyber glove (Haptic Device)
The principle of a Cyber glove is simple. It consists of opposing the movement of the hand in the
same way that an object squeezed between the fingers resists the movement of the latter. The glove
must therefore be capable, in the absence of a real object, of recreating the forces applied by the
object on the human hand with (1) the same intensity and (2) the same direction.
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Chapter 4
HAPTIC RENDERING
4.1 Principle of haptic interface:-
Fig 4.1 Haptics Rendering System
As illustrated in Fig. given above, haptic interaction occurs at an interaction tool of ahaptic
interface that mechanically couples two controlled dynamical systems: the haptic interface with a
computer and the human user with a central nervous system. The two systems are exactly
symmetrical in structure and information and they sense the environments, make decisions about
control actions, and provide mechanical energies to the interaction tool through motions.
4.2 Characteristics commonly considered desirable for haptic interface devices:-
• Low back-drive inertia and friction;
• Minimal constraints on motion imposed by the device kinematics so free motion feels free;
• Symmetric inertia, friction, stiffness, and resonant frequency properties (thereby regularizing the
device so users don’t have to unconsciously compensate for parasitic forces);
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• Balanced range, resolution, and bandwidth of position sensing and force reflection; and Proper
ergonomics that let the human operator focus when wearing or manipulating the haptic interface
as pain, or even discomfort, can distract the user, reducing overall performance.
4.3 Geometry-dependant force-rendering algorithms:-
The first type of force-rendering algorithms aspires to recreate the force interaction a user would
feel when touching a frictionless and texture fewer objects. Such interaction forces depend on the
geometry of the object being touched, its compliance, and the geometry of the avatar representing
the haptic interface inside the virtual environment. Although exceptions exist, 5 of the necessary
DOF to describe the interaction forces between an avatar and a virtual object typically matches the
actuated DOF of the haptic device being used. Thus for simpler devices, such as a 1-DOF force-
reflecting gripper, the avatar consists of a couple of points that can only move and exchange forces
along the line connecting them. For this device type, the force-rendering algorithm computes a
simple 1-DOF squeeze force between the index finger and the thumb, similar to the force you
would feel when cutting an object with scissors. When using a 6-DOF haptic device, the avatar
can be an object of any shape. In this case, the force-rendering algorithm computes all the
interaction forces between the object and the virtual environment and applies the resultant force
and torque vectors to the user through the haptic device. We group current force-rendering
algorithms by the number of DOF necessary to describe the interaction force being rendered.
4.4 Surface property-dependent force-rendering algorithms:-
All real surfaces contain tiny irregularities or indentations. Obviously, it’s impossible to
distinguish each irregularity when sliding a finger over an object. However, tactile sensors in the
human skin can feel their combined effects when rubbed against a real surface.
Micro-irregularities act as obstructions when two surfaces slide against each other and generate
forces tangential to the surface and opposite to motion. Friction, when viewed at the microscopic
level, is a complicated phenomenon. Nevertheless, simple empirical models exist, such as the one
Leonardo Da Vinci proposed and Charles Augustin de Coulomb later developed in 1785. Such
models served as a basis for the simpler frictional models in 3 DOF Researchers outside the haptic
community have developed many models to render friction with higher accuracy, for example, the
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Karnopp model for modeling stick-slip friction, the Bristle model, and the reset integrator model.
Higher accuracy, however, sacrifices speed, a critical factor in real-time applications. Any choice
of modeling technique must consider this trade off. Keeping this trade off in mind, researchers
have developed more accurate haptic-rendering algorithms for friction.
A texture or pattern generally covers real surfaces. Researchers have proposed various techniques
for rendering the forces that touching such textures generates.
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Chapter 5
APPLICATIONS, LIMITATION & FUTURE VISION
5.1 APPLICATION:-
5.1.1 Graphical user interfaces
Fig 5.1 Graphical Interface for Laptop Games
Video game makers have been early adopters of passive haptics, which takes advantage of
vibrating joysticks, controllers and steering wheels to reinforce on-screen activity. But future video
games will enable players to feel and manipulate virtual solids, fluids, tools and avatars. The
Novint Falcon haptics controller is already making this promise a reality. The 3-D force feedback
controller allows you to tell the difference between a pistol report and a shotgun blast, or to feel
the resistance of a longbow's string as you pull back an arrow.
Graphical user interfaces, like those that define Windows and Mac operating environments, will
also benefit greatly from haptic interactions. Imagine being able to feel graphic buttons and receive
force feedback as you depress a button. Some touch screen manufacturers are already
experimenting with this technology. Nokia phone designers have perfected a tactile touch screen
that makes on-screen buttons behave as if they were real buttons.
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5.1.2 Surgical Simulation and Medical Training
Fig 5.2 Medical Training Purpose
Various haptic interfaces for medical simulation may prove especially useful for training of
minimally invasive procedures (laparoscopy/interventional radiology) and remote surgery using
teleoperators. In the future, expert surgeons may work from a central workstation, performing
operations in various locations, with machine setup and patient preparation performed by local
nursing staff. Rather than traveling to an operating room, the surgeon instead becomes a
telepresence. A particular advantage of this type of work is that the surgeon can perform many
more operations of a similar type, and with less fatigue. It is well documented that a surgeon who
performs more procedures of a given kind will have statistically better outcomes for his patients.
Haptic interfaces are also used in rehabilitation robotics.
In ophthalmology, "haptic" refers to a supporting spring, two of which hold an artificial lens within
the lens capsule (after surgical removal of cataracts).
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5.1.3 Military Training in virtual environment
Fig 5.3 Virtual Environment in Military Training
From the earliest moments in the history of virtual reality (VR), the United States military forces
have been a driving factor in developing and applying new VR technologies. Along with the
entertainment industry, the military is responsible for the most dramatic evolutionary leaps in the
VR field.
Virtual environments work well in military applications. When well designed, they provide the
user with an accurate simulation of real events in safe, controlled environment. Specialized
military training can be very expensive, particularly for vehicle pilots. Some training procedures
have an element of danger when using real situations. While the initial development of VR gear
and software is expensive, in the long run it's much more cost effective than putting soldiers into
real vehicles or physically simulated situations. VR technology also has other potential
applications that can make military activities safer.
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5.2 Limitations of haptic systems:-
Limitations of haptic device systems have sometimes made applying the force’s exact value as
computed by force-rendering algorithms impossible. Various issues contribute to limiting a haptic
device’s capability to render a desired force or, more often, desired impedance are given below:-
• Haptic interfaces can only exert forces with limited magnitude and not equally well in all
directions, thus rendering algorithms must ensure that no output components saturate, as this would
lead to erroneous or discontinuous application of forces to the user. In addition, haptic devices
aren’t ideal force transducers.
• An ideal haptic device would render zero impedance when simulating movement in free space,
and any finite impedance when simulating contact with an object featuring such impedance
characteristics. The friction, inertia, and backlash present in most haptic devices prevent them from
meeting this ideal.
• A third issue is that haptic-rendering algorithms operate in discrete time whereas users operate
in continuous time, as Figure shown below illustrates. While moving into and out of a virtual
object, the sampled avatar position will always lag behind the avatar’s actual continuous-time
position. Thus, when pressing on a virtual object, a user needs to perform less work than in reality.
And when the user releases, however, the virtual object returns more work than its real-world
counterpart would have returned. In other terms, touching a virtual object extracts energy from it.
This extra energy can cause an unstable response from haptic devices.
• Finally, haptic device position sensors have finite resolution. Consequently, attempting to
determine where and when contact occurs always results in a quantization error. Although users
might not easily perceive this error, it can create stability problems.
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5.3 FUTURE VISION:-
As haptics moves beyond the buzzes and thumps of today’s video games, technology will enable
increasingly believable and complex physical interaction with virtual or remote objects. Already
haptically enabled commercial products let designers sculpt digital clay figures to rapidly produce
new product geometry, museum goers feel previously inaccessible artifacts, and doctors train for
simple procedures without endangering patients.
Past technological advances that permitted recording, encoding, storage, transmission, editing, and
ultimately synthesis of images and sound profoundly affected society. A wide range of human
activities, including communication, education, art, entertainment, commerce, and science, were
forever changed when we learned to capture, manipulate, and create sensory stimuli nearly
indistinguishable from reality. It’s not unreasonable to expect that future advancements in haptics
will have equally deep effects. Though the field is still in its infancy, hints of vast, unexplored
intellectual and commercial territory add excitement and energy to a growing number of
conferences, courses, product releases, and invention efforts.
Improved accuracy and richness in object modeling and haptic rendering will require advances in
our understanding of how to represent and render psychophysically and cognitively germane
attributes of objects, as well as algorithms and perhaps specialty hardware (such as haptic or
physics engines) to perform real-time computations. Development of multimodal workstations that
provide haptic, visual, and auditory engagement will offer opportunities for more integrated
interactions.
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Chapter 6
CONCLUSION
Finally we shouldn’t forget that touch and physical interaction are among the fundamental ways
in which we come to understand our world and to effect changes in it. This is true on a
developmental as well as an evolutionary level. For early primates to survive in a physical world,
as Frank Wilson suggested, “a new physics would eventually have to come into this their brain, a
new way of registering and representing the behavior of objects moving and changing under the
control of the hand. It is precisely such a representational system—a syntax of cause and effect, of
stories, and of experiments, each having a beginning, a middle, and an end— that one finds at the
deepest levels of the organization of human language.”
Our efforts to communicate information by rendering how objects feel through haptic technology,
and the excitement in our pursuit, might reflect a deeper desire to speak with an inner, physically
based language that has yet to be given a true voice.
References
• Haptic Rendering: Introductory Concepts-Kenneth Salisbury and Francois Conti Stanford
University. Federico Barbagli Stanford University and University of Siena, Italy
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• [Link] id=1231041#abstract
• [Link] .html
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