RESEARCH & INNOVATION
ALL THE FEELS
Engineering with the sense of touch .
BY IOANA PATRINGEARU
IT ’ S THE BUZZ ON YOUR WRIST , the rumble of your game controller , the “ button ” you “ push ” at the bottom of your smartphone . These are examples of haptic feedback — tactile sensations generated by a computer or electronic device — and you likely encounter them every day . But the technology has more potential than just alerting you to messages or celebrating 10,000 steps . Haptics is being used in a variety of modern engineering applications , and students are eager to enter the field .
UC San Diego ’ s first-ever course in haptic interfaces was held this winter quarter , taught by mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Tania Morimoto . “ This is a handson class designed to teach students how to design , build and program a haptic system ,” says Morimoto . “ Students learn how they can provide touch feedback to users interacting in virtual environments or with teleoperated robots .”
For instance , graduate students Matthew Kohanfars ’ 18 and Dylan Steiner ’ 18 developed an interface to help guide surgeons during a procedure to correct irregular heart rhythms . The surgery , called atrial fibrillation ablation , consists of threading catheters into the heart muscle and using heat to destroy tissue that causes irregular electric signals . A potential complication of the surgery is damage to the patient ’ s esophagus , so students designed a haptic device to mitigate this hazard . Worn on the surgeon ’ s forearm , the device applies vibration cues in the direction that the surgeon ’ s tool needs to move . It also notifies the surgeon of increased temperature at the surgical site , so the procedure can be stopped before heat damages tissue .
PhD students Andi Frank and Aamodh Suresh used the class to build a tool to help the visually impaired navigate crowded spaces , where using a cane can be difficult . The goal was to mimic the sensation of a hand resting on the user ’ s shoulder , directing them to turn left or right , stop or go . Frank and Suresh accomplished this by building a harness equipped with two small 3D-printed “ arms ”— one for each shoulder . Morimoto herself donned the remote-controlled harness and closed her eyes as the students remotely guided her around lab benches and chairs . The students ultimately struggled with replicating the exact force pattern these “ guiding hands ” needed to apply , and in order
GUIDING " HANDS " PhD student Andi Frank ( left ) equips teaching assistant Saurabh Jadhar with a haptic harness , developed to help the visually impaired navigate crowded spaces .
to simplify the system , they decided to add vibration to signify stop and go .
“ I feel I ’ ve gained a greater appreciation for how the sense of touch can be used as a mode of communication between humans and technology ,” says Frank , whose graduate research focuses on different ways robots can interact more naturally with humans . “ We don ’ t think about how much we rely on touch to perceive our environment , but it ’ s truly one of the strongest senses we have .”
We may take our sense of touch for granted , but students learning to design haptic feedback devices certainly have it top of mind . And given how vital it is to understanding the world around us , the use of haptic technology — every ding , ping and buzz to come — will continue to capture our attention and may end up guiding us in ways never imagined .
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