With touch screens getting more and more prevalent, we’re seeing more experimentation with haptics. Being able to feel something other than just the smooth glass surface can be incredibly advantageous. Have you been in a car with a touch screen radio system? If so you’ll know the frustration. Tanvas is a system that adds haptics […]
By now, hopefully, most of you will have seen Steve Hoeffer’s Tacit haptic wrist rangefinder project in MAKE Vol 29. MAKE regular David Prutchi recently saw it, and just sent me a link to this functionally similar device built by his daughter Hannah back in October. While Steve’s rangefinder goes “all out” with an embedded […]
Researches at the Politecnico di Milano and a group of other organizations have developed the Sound and Tangible Interfaces for Novel product Design (SATIN) haptic interface. It combines a robotic spline object with a virtual reality display, to allow a designer to physically manipulate and interact with curve lines in a virtual design.
Roboticist Saurabh Palan, a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, just hipped us to his “Tactile Gaming Vest” project. The vest contains solenoids, rumble-packs, and Peltier heating elements, and is designed to provide haptic feedback in first-person shooters. Get shot with a pistol, get a kick in the chest from a solenoid. Was it a laser? Add some local heat from the Peltiers. Vibration from the rumble-packs can be used to simulate explosions or slashing attacks. There’s more info at Palan’s personal site, iRoboticist.com. Double win for scoring that URL.
