Construction of a supermicro sense of force feedback and vision for micro-objects: development of a haptic device

This research aims to develop a combined sense system that uses both the force feedback and visual feedback to establish the shape of microscopic features of a microsample. It is thought that the efficiency of minute procedures would be improved if the operator could obtain a sense of force while using a manipulator. We used a cantilever to touch a minute object and obtain a reaction force from the degree of bending. We made a haptic device which gives a sense of that force to the operator, who can feel the force when a user touches a sample with a cantilever. In addition, when the haptic device is used in simulations, the user can feel a force just as if the user had touched a sample.     

Slingshot 3D: A synchronous haptic-audio-video game

Recent advances in multimedia and human computer interaction technologies have paved the way for rich contents across multiple media such as haptics, audio, and video. This paper introduces a multimodal game named the Slingshot 3D Game: an interactive and synchronous haptic-audio-video shooter game over the Internet network. The game incorporates two types of haptic feedback: tactile feedback using a haptic jacket and kinesthetic feedback using the Novint Falcon haptic interface. Furthermore, the game utilizes a depth camera to track the player's (upper) body movements and detect collisions between the player's body and the shot projectile. To promote availability and cost, the game uses the Internet network as the communication medium between the players, by utilizing the Admux communication framework [10]. The game design and implementation are detailed in this paper. Both the player performance analysis and the user satisfaction analysis have shown that the incorporation of synchronous haptic-video multimedia has enhanced the perception of player presence and the overall quality of performance.     

Multi-Modal Human Interactions with an Intelligent Interface Utilizing Images, Sounds, and Force Feedback

One goal of research in the area of human–machine interaction is to improve the ways a human user interacts with a computer through a multimedia interface. This interaction comprises of not only text, graphical animation, stereo sounds, and live video images, but also force and haptic feedback, which can provide more “real” feeling to the user. The force feedback joystick, a human interface device is an input–output device. It not only tracks user's physical manipulation input, but also provides realistic physical sensations of force coordinated with system output. As part of our research, we have developed a multimedia computer game that assimilates images, sounds, and force feedback. We focused on the issues of how to combine these media to allow the user feel the compliance, damping, and vibration effects through the force feedback joystick. We conducted series of human subject experiments that incorporated different combinations of media, including the comparative study of the different performances of 60 human users, aiming to answer the question: What are the effects of force feedback (and associated time delays) when used in combination with visual and auditory information as part of a multi-modal interface? It is hoped that these results can be utilized in the design of enhanced multimedia systems that incorporate force feedback.     

A sequenced multimodal learning approach to support students' development of conceptual learning

Virtual learning environments can now be enriched not only with visual and auditory information, but also with tactile and kinesthetic feedback. However, the way to successfully integrate haptic feedback on a multimodal learning environment is still unclear. This study aims to provide guidelines on how visuohaptic simulations can be implemented effectively, thus the research question is: Under what conditions do visual and tactile information support students' development of conceptual learning of force‐related concepts? Participants comprised 170 undergraduate students of a Midwestern University enrolled in a physics for elementary education class. Four experiments were conducted using four different configurations of multimodal learning environments: Visual feedback only, haptic force feedback only, visual and haptic force feedback at the same time, and sequenced modality of haptic feedback first and visual feedback second. Our results suggest that haptic force feedback has the potential to enrich learning when compared with visual only environments. Also, haptic and visual modalities interact better when sequenced one after another rather than presented simultaneously. Finally, exposure to virtual learning environments enhanced by haptic forced feedback was a positive experience, but the ease of use and ease of interpretation was not so evident.     

Networked multiplayer cooperative interaction using decoupled motion control method in a shared virtual environment with haptic,visual and movement feedback

This paper focuses on multiplayer cooperative interaction in a shared haptic environment based on a local area network. Decoupled motion control, which allows one user to manipulate a haptic interface to control only one‐dimensional movement of an avatar, is presented as a new type haptic‐based cooperation among multiple users. Users respectively move an avatar along one coordinate axis so that the motion of the avatar is the synthesis of movements along all axes. It is different from previous haptic cooperation where all users can apply forces on an avatar along any direction to move it, the motion of which completely depends on the resultant force. A novel concept of movement feedback is put forward where one user can sense other users’ hand motions through his or her own haptic interface. The concept can also be explained wherein one person who is required to move a virtual object along only one axis can also feel the motions of the virtual object along other axes. Movement feedback, which is a feeling of motion, differs from force feedback, such as gravity, collision force and resistance. A spring‐damper force model is proposed for the computation of motion feedback to implement movement transmission among users through haptic devices. Experimental results validate that movement feedback is beneficial for performance enhancement of such kind of haptic‐based cooperation, and the effect of movement feedback in performance improvement is also evaluated by all subjects.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Usability of optically simulated haptic feedback

In this contribution a method will be described to optically simulate haptic feedback without resorting to mechanical force feedback devices. This method exploits the domination of the visual over the haptic modality. The perception of haptic feedback, usually generated by force feedback devices, was simulated by tiny displacements on the cursor position relative to the intended force. The usability of optically simulated haptic feedback (OSHF) was tested experimentally by measuring effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction of its users in a Fitts’ type target-acquisition task and comparing the results with the usability of mechanically simulated force feedback and normal feedback. Results show that OSHF outperforms mechanically simulated haptic feedback and normal feedback, especially in the case of small targets.     

Using haptic feedback as an aid in the design of passive mechanisms

This paper presents a novel investigation of the effectiveness of haptic feedback for designing a class of interconnected multi-body systems such as passive mechanisms. The traditional application of haptic feedback in the design process has been in applications such as parts assembly or mold design. The design of the mechanism discussed in this paper is for applications where the user needs to manipulate the mechanism in order to interact with an environment. The objective of the design is to have the link ratios so that it can allow the user better movement control of the mechanism and thus give a better force amplification when there is a sudden change in the contact reaction force with the application environment. A haptic device is used as a design interface between the designer of such mechanisms and the virtual mechanism model. For this preliminary investigation, we used a four-bar mechanism. In our case study, we choose, as an example, to use the net distance travel of a tool when penetrating inside a model of a deformable surface as the design objective to minimize. The effects on the variation of this distance travelled can then be studied by adjusting some of the key design parameters used in the mechanism. To evaluate our proposed haptic-aided design environment, an informal preliminary user study was conducted, where each subject explored a sampled design space of the mechanism. The results of the user study suggest that the usage of a haptic device in the design of this class of mechanism can expedite the design process.     

A holistic approach for personalization,relevance feedback & recommendation in enriched multimedia content

As the prerequisites of production houses, broadcasters, advertising agencies and online publishing companies for enriched multimedia content increase rapidly, the need of innovative methods for the effective creation of enriched multimedia content is undeniable. Stemming from this need, in this paper we focus on the design, development and evaluation of a framework consisting of personalization, relevance feedback and recommendation mechanisms, as a principal method for the creation of enriched multimedia content targeted to each user’s needs, preferences and interests. As the multimedia content proliferates along with its consumption by the users, more effective ways of presenting it to the viewers are demanded in order to facilitate them with the multimedia content search and selection and improve their Quality of Experience (QoE). The main contribution of the paper is the introduction of a holistic framework that offers personalized enriched multimedia content, by extending the recommendation process to the set of enrichments that accompany the video except from the video itself and by collecting explicit and implicit relevance feedback from the interactions of the user with both the video and its enrichments. We evaluate the proposed framework following a two-step approach. Firstly, we perform extended experiments by applying reasonably simulated user interactions, in order to calibrate its parameters that refer to multiple aspects of the enriched multimedia content, aiming at high performance in terms of QoE. Here, most importantly, we have shown that appropriately designing the enrichments and considering users’ interactions with them allows for achieving a better quality in inferring users’ profiles in many realistic cases. Secondly, we integrated our proposed recommender framework within the MECANEX streaming platform in order to perform user studies about its usability within a realistic environment of use.     

Effects of using a force feedback haptic augmented simulation on the attitudes of the gifted students towards studying chemical bonds in virtual reality environment

The aim of this study is to identify the effects of force feedback haptic applications developed in virtual reality environments (VREs), which is an important field of study in computer science and engineering, on gifted students’ attitudes towards chemistry education in learning process. A 3D 6 DOF (Degree of Freedom) haptik device (Phantom Omni?) has been used to develop the algorithm in this study. It can be used to transmit force and motion using a haptic device. Visual C++ was choosen as the software development environment. OpenGL? and Haptic Device Application Programming Interface have been used for rendering graphics. At the 3D image creation state Wrap 1200?, which is a kind of head-mounted display, has been chosen. The sample of this study consists of 52 students identified as gifted and are attending 6th and 7th grades at the Istanbul Science &; Art Center in Istanbul. The experimental group studied chemical bonds using an application developed by using a force feedback haptic device in VRE and the control group studied it by traditional teaching methods. The study reveals that there is a relation between using force feedback haptic applications which are developed in VREs and gifted students’ attitudes towards educational programs.     

基于图像特征的力反馈渲染改进算法

传统基于图像特征的力反馈渲染算法在图像预处理降噪阶段容易丢失虚拟对象表面粗糙度信息。为此,提出一种改进的力反馈渲染算法。在快速矢量滤波器内置噪声检测器之前,增加一级基于图像边缘特征矢量的噪声检测器,以提高噪声检测准确率、保护图像边缘细节特征。实验结果表明,改进算法能够准确描述虚拟对象表面细微的粗糙度信息,实现更逼真的触觉与视觉融合的力反馈。     

Improvising through the senses: a performance approach with the indirect use of technology

This article explores and proposes new ways of performing in a technology-mediated environment. We present a case study that examines feedback loop relationships between a dancer and a pianist. Rather than using data from sensor technologies to directly control and affect musical parameters, we captured data from a dancer’s arm movements and mapped them onto a bespoke device that stimulates the pianist’s tactile sense through vibrations. The pianist identifies and interprets the tactile sensory experience, with his improvised performance responding to the changes in haptic information received. Our system presents a new way of technology-mediated performer interaction through tactile feedback channels, enabling the user to establish new creative pathways. We present a classification of vibrotactile interaction as means of communication, and we conclude how users experience multi-point vibrotactile feedback as one holistic experience rather than a collection of discrete feedback points.     

Real-time area-based haptic rendering and the augmented tactile display device for a palpation simulator

Although people usually contact a surface with some area rather than a point, most haptic devices allow a user to interact with a virtual object at one point at a time and likewise most haptic rendering algorithms deal with such situations only. In a palpation procedure, medical doctors push and rub the organ's surface, and are provided the sensation of distributed pressure and contact force (reflecting force) for discerning doubtable areas of the organ. In this paper, we suggest real-time area-based haptic rendering to describe distributed pressure and contact force simultaneously, and present a haptic interface system to generate surface properties in accordance with the haptic rendering algorithm. We represent the haptic model using the shape-retaining chain link (S-chain) framework for a fast and stable computation of the contact force and distributed pressure from a volumetric virtual object. In addition, we developed a compact pin-array-type tactile display unit and attached it to the PHANToM^TM haptic device to complement each other. For the evaluation, experiments were conducted with non-homogenous volumetric cubic objects consisting of approximately 500 000 volume elements. The experimental results show that compared to the point contact, the area contact provides the user with more precise perception of the shape and softness of the object's composition, and that our proposed system satisfies the real-time and realism constraints to be useful for a virtual reality application.     

A survey of data-driven approach on multimedia QoE evaluation

With the development of mobile communication technology and the growth of mobile device, the requirements for user quality of experience (QoE) become higher and higher. Network operators and content providers are interested in QoE evaluation for improving users’ QoE. However, multimedia QoE evaluation faces severe challenges due to the subjective properties of the QoE. In this paper, we provide a survey of the state of the art about applying data-driven approach on QoE evaluation. Firstly, we describe the way to choose factors influencing QoE. Then we investigate and discuss the strengths and shortcomings of existing machine learning algorithms for modeling and predicting users’ QoE. Finally, we describe our research work on how to evaluate QoE in imbalanced dataset.     

Platform for real-time subjective assessment of interactive multimedia applications

With the advent of cloud computing and remote execution of interactive applications, there is a need for evaluating the Quality of Experience (QoE) and the influence on this QoE of network condition variations, media encoding parameter settings and related optimization algorithms. However, current QoE assessment focuses mainly on audiovisual quality in non-interactive applications, such as video-on-demand services. On the other hand, where experiments aim to quantify interactive quality, the focus is typically targeted at games, using an ad-hoc test setup to assess the impact of network variations on the playing experience. In this paper, we present a novel platform enabling the assessment of a broad range of interactive applications (e.g., thin client remote desktop systems, remotely rendered engineering applications, games). Dynamic reconfiguration of media encoding and decoding is built into the system, to allow dynamic adaptation of the media encoding to the network conditions and the application characteristics. Evaluating the influence of these automatic adaptations is a key asset of our approach. A range of possible use cases is discussed, as well as a performance study of our implementation, showing that the platform we built is capable of highly controllable subjective user assessment. Furthermore, we present results obtained by applying the platform for a subjective evaluation of an interactive multimedia application. Specifically, the influence of visual quality and frame rate on interactive QoE has been assessed for a remotely executed race game.     

Methods for haptic feedback in teleoperated robot-assisted surgery

Teleoperated minimally invasive surgical robots can significantly enhance a surgeon's accuracy, dexterity and visualization. However, current commercially available systems do not include significant haptic (force and tactile) feedback to the operator. This paper describes experiments to characterize this problem, as well as several methods to provide haptic feedback in order to improve surgeon's performance. There exist a variety of sensing and control methods that enable haptic feedback, although a number of practical considerations, e.g. cost, complexity and biocompatibility, present significant challenges. The ability of teleoperated robot-assisted surgical systems to measure and display haptic information leads to a number of additional exciting clinical and scientific opportunities, such as active operator assistance through "virtual fixtures" and the automatic acquisition of tissue properties.     

Towards the sEMG hand: internet of things sensors and haptic feedback application

With the trend going on in ubiquitous computing, everything is going to be connected to the Internet and its data will be used for various progressive purposes, creating not only information from it, but also, knowledge and even wisdom. Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming important because the amount of data could make it possible to create more usefulness and develop smart applications for the users. Meanwhile, it mainly focuses on how to enable general objects to see, hear, and smell the physical world for themselves, and make them connected to share the observations. In this paper, we focus our attention on the integration of artificial sensory perception and haptic feedback in sEMG hands, which is an intelligent application of the IoT. Artificial sensory perception and haptic feedback are essential elements for amputees with myoelectric hands to restore the grasping function. They can provide information to users, such as forces of interaction and surface properties at points of contact between hands and objects. Recent advancements in robot tactile sensing led to development of many computational techniques that exploit this important sensory channel. At the same time, Surface electromyography (sEMG) is perhaps most useful for providing insight into how the neuromuscular system behaves. Therefore, integration of sEMG technology, artificial sensation and haptic feedback plays an important role in improving the manipulation performance and enhancing perceptual embodiment for users. This paper provides sEMG technologies that involve Multichannel sEMG electrodes array and processing methods, and then reviews current state-of-the-art of artificial sensation and haptic feedback. Drawing from advancements and taking into design considerations of each feedback modality and individual haptic technology, the paper outline challenging issues and future developments.

     

A haptic interface for computer-integrated endoscopic surgery and training

Haptic feedback has the potential to provide superior performance in computer-integrated surgery and training. This paper discusses the design of a user interface that is capable of providing force feedback in all the degrees of freedom (DOFs) available during endoscopic surgery. Using the Jacobian matrix of the haptic interface and its singular values, methods are proposed for analysis and optimization of the interface performance with regard to the accuracy of force feedback, the range of applicable forces, and the accuracy of control. The haptic user interface is used with a sensorized slave robot to form a master–slave test-bed for studying haptic interaction in a minimally invasive environment. Using the master–slave test-bed, teleoperation experiments involving a single degree of freedom surgical task (palpation) are conducted. Different bilateral control methods are compared based on the transparency of the master–slave system in terms of transmitting the critical task-related information to the user in the context of soft-tissue surgical applications.     

An investigation on the impact of auditory and haptic feedback on rhythmic walking interactions

This paper presents a system capable of rhythmic walking interaction by auditory and haptic display. Likewise, it summarizes the results of the research on the influence of the audio and haptic stimulation on rhythmic walking interaction. The system detects user’s footsteps and either provides interactive real-time feedback or suggests a pace using a synthetic walking sound or vibration. This pace is either a constant tempo or adapts to the walker. Auditory and haptic feedback signals are either ecological physically-based synthetic walking signals or simple sinusoidal beeps. In the experiment, the different auditory and haptic feedback and interaction modes are studied with respect to their effect on the walking tempo. The results show that participants synchronise equally well with the tempo with either audio or haptic cues, but indicate the audio–haptic conditions as the easiest to synchronise with. Moreover, results indicate that multimodal audio–haptic feedback provide the most natural feeling. These results have implications on the design of interactive entertainment or therapeutical applications.     

Effects of haptic feedback,stereoscopy, and image resolution on performance and presence in remote navigation

Traditionally, the main goal of teleoperation has been to successfully achieve a given task as if performing the task in local space. An emerging and related requirement is to also match the subjective sensation or the user experience of the remote environment, while maintaining reasonable task performance. This concept is often called “presence” or “(experiential) telepresence,” which is informally defined as “the sense of being in a mediated environment.” In this paper, haptic feedback is considered as an important element for providing improved presence and reasonable task performance in remote navigation. An approach for using haptic information to “experientially” teleoperate a mobile robot is described. Haptic feedback is computed from the range information obtained by a sonar array attached to the robot, and delivered to a user's hand via a haptic probe. This haptic feedback is provided to the user, in addition to stereoscopic images from a forward-facing stereo camera mounted on the mobile robot. The experiment with a user population in a real-world environment showed that haptic feedback significantly improved both task performance and user-felt presence. When considering user-felt presence, no interaction among haptic feedback, image resolution, and stereoscopy was observed, that is, haptic feedback was effective, regardless of the fidelity of visual elements. Stereoscopic images also significantly improved both task performance and user-felt presence, but high-resolution images only significantly improved user-felt presence. When considering task performance, however, it was found that there was an interaction between haptic feedback and stereoscopy, that is, stereoscopic images were only effective when no force feedback was applied. According to the multiple regression analysis, haptic feedback was a higher contributing factor to the improvement in performance and presence than image resolution and stereoscopy.     

Effects of auditory,haptic and visual feedback on performing gestures by gaze or by hand

Modern interaction techniques like non-intrusive gestures provide means for interacting with distant displays and smart objects without touching them. We were interested in the effects of feedback modality (auditory, haptic or visual) and its combined effect with input modality on user performance and experience in such interactions. Therefore, we conducted two exploratory experiments where numbers were entered, either by gaze or hand, using gestures composed of four stroke elements (up, down, left and right). In Experiment 1, a simple feedback was given on each stroke during the motor action of gesturing: an audible click, a haptic tap or a visual flash. In Experiment 2, a semantic feedback was given on the final gesture: the executed number was spoken, coded by haptic taps or shown as text. With simultaneous simple feedback in Experiment 1, performance with hand input was slower but more accurate than with gaze input. With semantic feedback in Experiment 2, however, hand input was only slower. Effects of feedback modality were of minor importance; nevertheless, semantic haptic feedback in Experiment 2 showed to be useless at least without extensive training. Error patterns differed between both input modes, but again not dependent on feedback modality. Taken together, the results show that in designing gestural systems, choosing a feedback modality can be given a low priority; it can be chosen according to the task, context and user preferences.