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Consumer-Level Haptics On the Way
Posted by
kdawson
on Thu Mar 06, 2008 04:09 PM
from the can-you-touch-me-now dept.
from the can-you-touch-me-now dept.
longacre writes "Yesterday we discussed Carnegie Mellon's maglev haptics controller which, when it goes on sale, will be aimed mostly at laboratory applications, and therefore out of reach for most consumers. Today, roboticist/futurist Daniel Wilson reviews that controller in-depth as part of a larger look at the burgeoning world of tactile feedback devices. Several mobile phones now on the market use haptic touch screens as well as a number of gaming devices, such as the Novint Falcon controller. According to Wilson the applications are limitless, from making it easier to manipulate robots to allowing drivers to keep their eyes on the road when changing radio stations. Quoting: 'Haptics doesn't just close the gaps in our current computer interfaces — it can open up new possibilities. Blending haptics with recent advances in the field of robotics allows doctors to train for intricate procedures virtually, with increasingly accurate sensory feedback — and the technology can bring a new dimension to remotely controlled machines, helping negotiate obstacles in distant settings.'"
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SubComdrTaco writes "A controller developed at Carnegie Mellon University allows computer users to
manipulate three-dimensional images and explore virtual environments not only through sight and sound, but by using their sense of touch. It simulates a hand's responses to touch because it relies on a part that floats in a magnetic field rather than on mechanical linkages and cables, according to Ralph L. Hollis, a Carnegie Mellon professor who developed the controller.
The controller — like a joystick topped with a block that can be grasped — has just one moving part and rests in a bowl-like structure connected to a computer. Two of the controllers can be used simultaneously to pick up and move virtual objects on a monitor.
In a demonstration Tuesday, visitors to Hollis' lab were invited to move an image of a pin across a plate of various textures, causing the controller to bump along ripples, vibrate across fine striations and glide across smooth areas.
On one computer, users could "feel" the contours of a virtual rabbit.
Hollis said his researchers had built 10 of the devices, six of which were to be sent to other universities across the country and in Canada, and that a new company, Butterfly Haptics, would begin marketing the device in June or July.
The controller, which Hollis said will cost "much less" than $50,000, could enable a would-be surgeon to operate on a virtual human organ and sense the texture of tissue or give a designer the feeling of fitting a part into a virtual jet engine, or might also be used to convey the feeling of wind under the wings of unmanned military planes."
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Oh dear... (Score:2)
Re:Oh dear... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
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It's DIY..
Seriously, there is Money to be Made! (Score:2)
You know, there is a rather large untapped consumer market for certain varieties of tactile feedback devices.
If cards are played right, there is a lot of money to be made from sex-play haptics over the Internet. Road warriors who want to keep the fires lit with their wives at home. Also the young nerd virgin contingent. How about a Facebook app? (A Sitonmyfacebook app?) Cafes which are also just good internet cafes, with clean, comfortable and well-appointed private rooms with high-end haptic sex toys would make money. (You buy your own attachments, and someone has to clean up after you.) They'd have to be
the most prevalent haptic device... (Score:2, Interesting)
Would probably be the Apple "Mighty Mouse."
The scroll ball doesn't have any bumps- the sensation comes from a piezoelectric transducer that makes a slight vibration and click noise. Same thing with the squeezable sides: the click isn't part of a mechanical switch.
Another party trick for the Mighty Mouse: the squeezeable sides are "harder" to squeeze when the mouse isn't on a surface. Try it now...squeeze it, then pick it up off the table and squeeze again.
Did Apple ever get around to making Windows
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Standard USB human interface device stuff. Is there something ultrafancier about next-generation Mighty Mice I didn't know about?
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Re:the most prevalent haptic device... (Score:5, Informative)
The only reason those buttons are harder to squeeze when the mouse is off a surface is because your fingers don't have as much leverage to push on those buttons. Those squeeze buttons are nothing more than contacts mounted on both sides of the mouse.
The scroll ball doesn't feature anything that generations the vibration. It feels exactly the same whether or not the mouse is plugged in. The mouse does feature a tiny speaker which surprised me when I did learned about it.
You can see the internals of that mouse here [arstechnica.com].
The mighty mouse is no more a haptic device than any other mouse. Game controllers with force-feedback are really the only haptic devices currently available to consumers.
Actually, I'm surprised someone hasn't introduced force feedback into mice yet. It would be interesting to get some sort of feedback when the cursor hits the edge of the screen, and even more interesting to implement it in games. Perhaps nobody has done it because the mouse would just start vibrating all over the desk.
Parent
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A Force Feedback Mouse Existed in 2000 (Score:1)
Logitech had a vibrating mouse in 2000 called the iFeel [news.com].
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this is the people the driver was from iirc:
http://www.immersion.com/ [immersion.com]
Hey! (Score:2)
Thanks.
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redundant copy of dupe (Score:3, Informative)
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robots and radio stations? (Score:2)
Which is easier to do while driving--reaching down to press one of your radio's preset buttons, or programming your lego mindstorms robot to reach down and press one of your radio's preset buttons?
I don't think any amount of haptics/tactile feedback/nonvisual cues will change that situation.
This has been around a long time... (Score:2)
http://www.dansdata.com/ifeel.htm [dansdata.com]
yea, right (Score:2)
Physical to Physical interactions (Score:2)
For example, Touch someone over IP [t11s.com].
zzzz (Score:1)
Novint Falcon controller at Comp-USA (Score:3, Informative)
Prices are slashed, I went to the one here in Goleta California, they had about 20 of those Novint Falcon controllers, they couldn't even give them away. The seemed to have been there for a while, long enough for the gloss to wear off the boxes and have a layer of dust on them.
Interesting since the article make it seems like they just came out.
Even more Interesting was at 50% off they were listed at $300, which seems to be higher then retail prices..
listed in the article $189
It's spelled haptics but pronounced WALDO (Score:1)
This is likely to be one of the "disruptive technologies" if the cost is reduced.