Device gives shape to virtual objects

AUTHOR: Inavate

Japanese broadcaster NHK has developed a haptic feedback device that enables users to feel the edges and contours of virtual objects.
The tactile system involves a user placing their fingertip onto a five-pointed surface with each one of the points delivering feedback onto the fingertip. While NHK’s goal is to aid the visually impaired and to create a TV service where viewers can touch virtual objects, future applications for such technology include shopping, remote working and telemedicine

The device was demonstrated at the annual open day of NHK’s Science and Technology Laboratories. Using the face of a graphical character called Domo-kun, users could feel the contours on the edges of the face as well as the jagged teeth.

“This device communicates a 3D shape or 2D graph of an object shown on a TV, such as a work of art, as a sensation felt by the hand,” an NHK spokesman told Tokyo-based video news site DigInfo TV.

The sensation is described as something akin to detecting the texture of a surface when writing on it with a pen.

“Domo-kun's body is one object, while the tooth is another object,” the spokesman explained.
“This is slightly different from a texture that's actually felt by the skin.”