You rarely notice haptics, but when it comes to human-computer interaction, they can make or break a device. That’s why Immersion (the leader in haptic feedback – basically little high-speed motors in phones and other devices that add a vibrational component to on-screen interaction) just announced a way to create amazing haptics for almost all Android phones. Their MOTIV platform offers programmers and carriers a new way to add vibrational feedback to phones. For example, instead of a curt buzz when something explodes on screen, you can add special “macro” vibrations that turn the motor on and off at various frequencies, recreating the vibrations associated with an explosion. It’s a bit hard to describe, but think of an audio editor for buzzing motors. → Read More
Senseg.com is a haptic interface company based in Helsinki, Finland. I met with the CEO, Ville Makinen, who showed us two simple implementations of the system.
Instead of using vibrating motors, the device surface is completely motionless. Instead, the Senseg system stimulates your fingers or hand with an electrical field to simulate the feeling of friction or texture. The only way I can describe it as being a cross between rubbing soft sandpaper and getting a static electric shock whenever you touch an active point on the screen.
One obvious implementation would be for something like the iPhone. Because it uses no motors you can’t hear it and it doesn’t run down the battery. A small module – about as big as two sugar cubes – controls the sensation by connecting to a thin film that can be placed on any device. The film can even go around curves. The video you see here shows two demo products. One is a UI test with three distinct systems – a slider, a notched slider, and a rotating arrow. When you move your finger on each UI element you feel a different thing. → Read More
MyTouchKeys is a clear plastic sticker that adds tactile feedback to your iPhone by — wait for it — putting a hole over each of the keyboard keys. While this experience can be replicated by placing gobs of dried earwax or mucous on each of the tiny keys, it is clear that a piece of plastic is a far superior solution. Now, however, I have to clean my damn iPhone. → Read More
[photopress:popmechaptics.jpg,full,center] Meet Mr. Happy In reading this fine site of ours, you’ve no doubt occasionally come across the word “haptic.” What does it mean, you ask. I don’t know, I reply. But Popular Mechanics knows, and they know it so well, they’ve got nearly 2,000 words explaining why it’ll be the next big thing to hit consumer electronics. That is, once it makes its way out of the labs. → Read More
Force feedback plus six dimensions of movement — I like what I’m hearing so far. This yet-to-be-named device has been in the workings for 11+ years by scientists at Carnegie Mellon University and uses a bowl-shaped apparatus connected to a joystick, all of which sits inside a larger bowl-shaped apparatus that magnetically levitates the smaller bowl. There are only ten such devices in the world so far but the project’s been spun off into a commercial company called Butterfly Haptics (web site here) and more details will be announced at a haptics conference in Reno on March 13th and 14th. → Read More
