Non-contact Method for Producing Tactile Sensation Using Airborne Ultrasound

This paper describes a new tactile device which produces stress fields in 3D space. Combined with 3D stereoscopic displays, this device is expected to provide high-fidelity tactile feedback for the interaction with 3D visual objects. The principle is based on a non-linear phenomenon of ultrasound, acoustic radiation pressure. We fabricated a prototype device to confirm the feasibility as a tactile display. The prototype consists of 91 airborne ultrasound transducers packed in the hexagonal arrangement, a 12 channel driving circuit, and a PC. The transducers which were in the same distance from the center of the transducer array were connected to form a 12 channel annular array. The measured total output force within the focal region was 0.8 gf. The spatial resolution was 20 mm. The prototype could produce sufficient vibrations up to 1 kHz.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2008
• Where: HAPTICS
• Authors: Takayuki Iwamoto, Mari Tatezono, Hiroyuki Shinoda
• Keywords: Airborne Ultrasound Transducers, HAPTICS 2008, Prototype Device, Tactile, Virtual Reality