Philadelphia – You wear it on your fingers while you are surfing in the virtual reality and it allows you to feel the touch of virtual objects. You can even sense if they are slipping from your hands. The prototype of the new device was built by the researchers of the Research Center “E. Piaggio” at the University of Pisa and by the Italian Institute of Technology. It receive the award for “Best paper” at the International Conference Haptics Symposium 2016 in Philadelphia. The work is titled ” A Wearable Fabric-based Display for Haptic Multi-Cue Delivery ” and the authors are Mattheo Bianchi, Edoardo Battaglia, Mattia Poggiani, Simone Ciotti, Antonio Bicchi. The prototype consists of a frame internally covered by a two-way stretch fabric, moved by two motors and by a lifting mechanism. The stiffness of the virtual objects can be reproduced by modulating the stretching state of the fabric through the two motors. When the fabric is stretched softly it translate through the sense of touch as the presence of a “soft” object, while a taut fabric suggests “hardness” . The device is worn by putting the fingertip inside the frame and the movements of the finger are read by an infrared sensor which control the two motors. The sense of slipping is causes by the synchronous movement of the two motors. (9Colonne)
