According to Barclay Jumet, a mechanical engineering PhD student who is the lead author on a study published in Device, technology has been slow to co-opt haptics or communication based on the sense of touch.
“Of the technologies that have incorporated haptics, wearable devices often still require bulky external hardware to provide complex cues, limiting their use in day-to-day activities,” Jumet said in a statement.
The system of haptic accessories built by the Rice labs of Daniel Preston and Marcia O’Malley is said to reduce the need for hardware by programming haptic cues into the textile structure of the wearables using fluidic control.
“With a traditional control system using voltage and current, you’d typically need many electronic inputs to achieve complex haptic cues,” said Preston, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Rice. “In this device, we’ve offloaded a lot of that complexity to the fluidic controller and require only a very limited number of electronic inputs to provide sophisticated haptic stimulation.”
Comprised of a belt and textile sleeves, the wearables rely on fluidic signals to control the delivery of complex haptic cues, including sensations like vibration, tapping and squeezing. A small, lightweight carbon dioxide tank fixed to the belt feeds airtight circuits incorporated in the heat-sealable textiles, causing coin-sized pouches — up to six on each sleeve — to inflate with varying force and frequency.
In an experiment, these cues served as directions guiding a user on a mile-long route through the streets of Houston. In another experiment, a user outlined invisible Tetris pieces in a field by following the directions conveyed to them through the haptic textiles.
“The belt incorporates a slimmed-down version of the electronic control system that might otherwise be required,” Jumet said. “In this case, we had twelve pouches across two sleeves progressively inflate to indicate one of four directions: forward, backward, left or right. So instead of requiring twelve electronic inputs, we embed that complexity into the sleeve and are able to use only four inputs.
“In the future, this technology could be directly integrated with navigational systems, so that the very textiles making up one’s clothing can tell users which way to go without taxing their already overloaded visual and auditory senses - for instance by needing to consult a map or listen to a virtual assistant.”
Moreover, the wearable textile device could incorporate other sensing and control mechanisms to allow users with limited vision or hearing to detect obstacles and navigate dynamic environments in real-time.
The heat-sealable textiles are resilient to wear and tear, making the device suitable for intensive daily use.
“We tested the durability of our haptic textiles by washing a device 25 times then cutting it open with a knife and ironing a textile patch over the cut,” Jumet said. “It continued to work as intended after repeated washing, cutting and repairing.”
UK not prepared for climate impacts, says CCC
Perhaps a Longtitude prize to solve railway line problems. "extreme heat causing further disruption through rail buckling and power line...