Abstract
In mobile devices, the screen size limits conveyance of immersive experiences; haptic feedback coupled with visual feedback is expected to have a better effect to maximize the level of immersion. Therefore, this paper presents a miniature tunable haptic stylus based on magnetorheological (MR) fluids to provide kinesthetic information to users. The designed stylus has a force generation, force transmission, and housing part; moreover, in the stylus, all three operating modes of MR fluids contribute to the haptic actuation to produce a wide range of resistive force generated by MR fluids in a limited size, thereby providing a variety of pressing sensations to users. A universal testing machine was constructed to evaluate haptic performance of the proposed haptic stylus, whose resistive force was measured with the constructed setup as a function of pressed depth and input current, and by varying the pressed depth and pressing speed. Under maximum input voltage, the stylus generates a wide range of resistive force from 2.33 N to 27.47 N, whereas under maximum pressed depth it varied from 1.08 N to 27.47 N with a corresponding change in voltage input from 0 V to 3.3 V. Therefore, the proposed haptic stylus can create varied haptic sensations.
Highlights
Because of advancements in mobile hardware technology, interaction with mobile virtual objects has become increasingly popular with most users owning a smart phone
To convey a more realistic haptic sensation to users in a virtual environment, both tactile and kinesthetic information should be simultaneously presented to users
We propose a new design of tiny haptic stylus, in which all three modes of MR fluids can contribute to the haptic actuation, to increase the magnitude of haptic force to the level where users are truly “satisfied” in a small size
Summary
Because of advancements in mobile hardware technology, interaction with mobile virtual objects has become increasingly popular with most users owning a smart phone. A user who manipulates and interacts with these objects wants to haptically ”feel” the presence of objects and their material properties. As the demand for realistic interaction with virtual objects increases, the importance of haptic technology increases to ensure that the ultimate level of immersion is conveyed to users. Haptic sensation consists of kinesthetic and tactile feelings. A kinesthetic feeling refers to sensory data obtained through receptors of joints, muscles, ligaments, etc. The tactile feeling is a cutaneous sensation obtained from receptors of the skin. To convey a more realistic haptic sensation to users in a virtual environment, both tactile and kinesthetic information should be simultaneously presented to users
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