System Identification I

We present a new technology for enhancing touch interfaces with tactile feedback. The proposed technology is based on the electrovibration principle, does not use any moving parts and provides a wide range of tactile feedback sensations to fingers moving across a touch surface. When combined with an interactive display and touch input, it enables the design of a wide variety of interfaces that allow the user to feel virtual elements through touch. We present the principles of operation and an implementation of the technology. We also report the results of three controlled psychophysical experiments and a subjective user evaluation that describe and characterize users' perception of this technology. We conclude with an exploration of the design space of tactile touch screens using two comparable setups, one based on electrovibration and another on mechanical vibrotactile actuation.

TeslaTouch: electrovibration for touch surfaces

With the advent of more stringent regulations related to emissions, fuel economy, and global warming, as well as energy resource constraints, electric, hybrid, and fuel-cell vehicles have attracted increasing attention from vehicle constructors, governments, and consumers. Research and development efforts have focused on developing advanced powertrains and efficient energy systems. This paper reviews the state of the art for electric, hybrid, and fuel-cell vehicles, with a focus on architectures and modeling for energy management. Although classic modeling approaches have often been used, new systemic approaches that allow better understanding of the interaction between the numerous subsystems have recently been introduced.

https://www.eee.hku.hk/doc/ccchan/Electric,%20Hybrid,%20and%20Fuel-Cell%20Vehicles-%20Architectures%20and%20Modeling.pdf

Electric, Hybrid, and Fuel-Cell Vehicles: Architectures and Modeling

The recognition that minimizing an integral function through variational methods (as in the last chapters) leads to the second-order differential equations of Euler-Lagrange for the minimizing function made it natural for mathematicians of the eighteenth century to ask for an integral quantity whose minimization would result in Newton’s equations of motion. With such a quantity, a new principle through which the universe acts would be obtained. The belief that “something” should be minimized was in fact a long-standing conviction of natural philosophers who felt that God had constructed the universe to operate in the most efficient manner—but how that efficiency was to be assessed was subject to interpretation. However, Fermat (1657) had already invoked such a principle successfully in declaring that light travels through a medium along the path of least time of transit. Indeed, it was by recognizing that the brachistochrone should give the least time of transit for light in an appropriate medium that Johann Bernoulli “proved” that it should be a cycloid in 1697. (See Problem 1.1.) And it was Johann Bernoulli who in 1717 suggested that static equilibrium might be characterized through requiring that the work done by the external forces during a small displacement from equilibrium should vanish. This “principle of virtual work” marked a departure from other minimizing principles in that it incorporated stationarity—even local stationarity—(tacitly) in its formulation. Efforts were made by Leibniz, by Euler, and most notably, by Lagrange to define a principle of least action (kinetic energy), but it was not until the last century that a truly satisfactory principle emerged, namely, Hamilton’s principle of stationary action (c. 1835) which was foreshadowed by Poisson (1809) and polished by Jacobi (1848) and his successors into an enduring landmark of human intellect, one, moreover, which has survived transition to both relativity and quantum mechanics. (See [L], [Fu] and Problems 8.11 8.12.)

Variational Principles in Mechanics

We introduce UltraHaptics, a system designed to provide multi-point haptic feedback above an interactive surface. UltraHaptics employs focused ultrasound to project discrete points of haptic feedback through the display and directly on to users' unadorned hands. We investigate the desirable properties of an acoustically transparent display and demonstrate that the system is capable of creating multiple localised points of feedback in mid-air. Through psychophysical experiments we show that feedback points with different tactile properties can be identified at smaller separations. We also show that users are able to distinguish between different vibration frequencies of non-contact points with training. Finally, we explore a number of exciting new interaction possibilities that UltraHaptics provides.

/pdf/ultrahaptics-multi-point-mid-air-haptic-feedback-for-touch-q3nuf9ld4v.pdf

UltraHaptics: multi-point mid-air haptic feedback for touch surfaces

Most tactile displays currently built rely on pin-based arrays. However, this kind of tactile device is not always appropriate when we need to give the illusion of finely textured surfaces. In this paper, we describe the squeeze film effect between a plate and a finger, and we use this effect to design an ultrasonic tactile plate. The plate is actuated by piezoelectric ceramics. Ultrasonic vibrations are thus produced and are capable of generating the squeeze film effect. This enables us to simulate variable friction on the surface of the plate. In order to identify the squeeze film phenomenon, this study considers the case where a finger, with a planar bottom surface and with epidermal ridges, is placed on a rapidly vibrating plate. The overpressure is calculated and the result enables us to assess the relative coefficient of friction as a function of the vibration amplitude of the plate. Based on this principle, and using both analytic and FE method studies, and given ergonomic and stimulation (squeeze film) requirements, we show that it is possible to design a tactile plate which is capable of giving programmable tactile sensations. We conclude by comparing the results obtained from our simulations with experimental results.

/pdf/squeeze-film-effect-for-the-design-of-an-ultrasonic-tactile-1veu9w2957.pdf

Squeeze film effect for the design of an ultrasonic tactile plate

In this paper, we investigate the use of friction based tactile displays for the simulation of finely textured surfaces, as such displays offer a promising way for the development of devices with co-located vision and tactile feedback. The resolution of the textures rendered with such devices and their matching to real textures have never been investigated. The paper first contributes to the evaluation of the texture resolution of friction based tactile displays. In a controlled experiment, we investigate the differential thresholds for square gratings simulated with a friction based tactile device by dynamic touch. Then we compare them to the differential thresholds of real square wave gratings. We found that the Weber fraction remains constant across the different spatial period at 9%, which is close to the Weber fraction found for corresponding real square gratings. This study inclines us to conclude that friction based tactile displays offers a realistic alternative to pin based arrays and can be used for co-located vision and tactile rendering. From the results of the experiment, we also give the design guidelines to improve the perception of textures on friction based tactile displays.

/pdf/discrimination-of-virtual-square-gratings-by-dynamic-touch-s0f0yiz52x.pdf

Discrimination of Virtual Square Gratings by Dynamic Touch on Friction Based Tactile Displays

Causal Ordering Graph and Energetic Macroscopic Representation are graphical descriptions to model electromechanical systems using integral causality. Inversion rules have been defined in order to deduce control structure step-by-step from these graphical descriptions. These two modeling tools can be used together to develop a two-layer control of system with complex parts. A double-drive paper system is taken as an example. The deduced control yields good performances of tension regulation and velocity tracking.

/pdf/inversion-based-control-of-electromechanical-systems-using-okyi9xokwl.pdf

Inversion-based control of electromechanical systems using causal graphical descriptions

In this article, we review the current technology underlying surface haptics that converts passive touch surfaces to active ones (machine haptics), our perception of tactile stimuli displayed through active touch surfaces (human haptics), their potential applications (human-machine interaction), and finally, the challenges ahead of us in making them available through commercial systems. This article primarily covers the tactile interactions of human fingers or hands with surface-haptics displays by focusing on the three most popular actuation methods: vibrotactile, electrostatic, and ultrasonic.

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02617776/document

A Review of Surface Haptics: Enabling Tactile Effects on Touch Surfaces

We present the STIMTAC, a touchpad device that supports friction reduction. Contrary to traditional vibrotactile approaches, the STIMTAC provides information passively, acting as a texture display. It does not transfer energy to the user but modifies how energy is dissipated within the contact area by a user-initiated friction process. We report on the iterative process that led to the current hardware design and briefly describe the software framework that we are developing to illustrate its potential.

Frédéric Giraud

Papers

Squeeze film effect for the design of an ultrasonic tactile plate

Discrimination of Virtual Square Gratings by Dynamic Touch on Friction Based Tactile Displays

Inversion-based control of electromechanical systems using causal graphical descriptions

A Review of Surface Haptics: Enabling Tactile Effects on Touch Surfaces

STIMTAC: a tactile input device with programmable friction