Design,modeling,and evaluation of a slim haptic actuator based on electrorheological fluid

Abstract

Realistic haptic feedback is needed to provide information to users of numerous technologies, such as virtual reality, mobile devices, and robotics. For a device to convey realistic haptic feedback, two touch sensations must be present: tactile feedback and kinesthetic feedback. Although many devices today convey tactile feedback through vibrations, most neglect to incorporate kinesthetic feedback. To address this issue, this study investigates a haptic device with the aim of conveying both kinesthetic and vibrotactile information to users. A prototype based on electrorheological fluids was designed and fabricated. By controlling the electrorheological fluid flow via applied electric fields, the device can generate a range of haptic sensations. The design centered on an elastic membrane that acts as the actuator’s contact surface. Moreover, the control electronics and structural components were integrated into a compact printed circuit board, resulting in a slim device suitable for mobile applications. The device was tested using a dynamic mechanical analyzer to evaluate its performance. The device design was supported with mathematical modeling and was in agreement with experimental results. According to the just-noticeable difference analysis, this range is sufficient to transmit distinct kinesthetic and vibrotactile sensations to users, indicating that the electrorheological fluid–based actuator is capable of conveying haptic feedback.

Keywords

Haptic actuator electrorheological fluid fluid interface kinesthetic tactile

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adams

Moreyra

Hannaford

(1998) Stability and performance of haptic displays: theory and experiments. In: Proceedings ASME international mechanical engineering congress and exhibition, Anaheim, CA, pp. 227–234. Available at: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3fe5/ba2caf483c66f3a463eb9b32238580ae66ee.pdf

Kwon

D-S

(2002) Haptic experimentation on a hybrid active/passive force feedback device. In: Proceedings 2002 IEEE international conference on robotics and automation, pp. 4217–4222. Available at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1014416

Kwon

D-S

(2006) Stability and performance of haptic interfaces with active/passive actuators—theory and experiments. The International Journal of Robotics Research 25(11): 1121–1136.

Bianchi

Scilingo

Serio

, et al. (2009) A new softness display based on bi-elastic fabric. In: Proceedings of third joint eurohaptics conference and symposium on haptic interfaces for virtual environment and teleoperator systems, pp. 382–383. Available at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4810905

Bullough

Johnson

Hosseini-Sianaki

, et al. (1993) The electro-rheological clutch: design, performance characteristics and operation. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part I: Journal of Systems and Control Engineering 207(2): 87–95.

Burton

Makris

Konstantopoulos

, et al. (1996) Modeling the response of ER damper: phenomenology and emulation. Journal of Engineering Mechanics 122: 897–906.

Choi

S-B

Choi

Y-T

(1999) Sliding mode control of a shear-mode type ER engine mount. KSME International Journal 13(1): 26–33.

Choi

Cheong

Jung

, et al. (1997) Position control of an ER valve-cylinder system via neural network controller. Mechatronics 7(1): 37–52.

Coles

Meglan

John

(2011) The role of haptics in medical training simulators: a survey of the state of the art. IEEE Transactions on Haptics 4(1): 51–66.

10.

Fricke

(1993) Tactile graphic computer screen and input tablet for blind persons using an electrorheological fluid. Patent 5222895, USA.

11.

Fujita

Ohmori

(2001) A new softness display interface by dynamic fingertip contact area control. In: Proceedings of the 5th world multiconference on systemics, cybernetics and informatics, Orlando, FL, 22–25 October 2001, pp. 78–82. IIIS.

12.

Goto

Takemura

(2013) Tactile bump display using electro-rheological fluid. In: IEEE international conference on intelligent robots and systems, pp. 4478–4483. Available at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6697000

13.

Han

S-S

Choi

S-B

Cheong

C-C

(2000) Position control of X-Y table mechanism using electro-rheological clutches. Mechanism and Machine Theory 35(11): 1563–1577.

14.

Jansen

Karrer

Borchers

(2010a) MudPad: localized tactile feedback on touch surfaces. In: Proceedings of the 23rd annual ACM symposium on user interface software and technology, pp. 385–386. Available at: https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1866232

15.

Jansen

Karrer

Borchers

(2010b) MudPad: tactile feedback and haptic texture overlay for touch surfaces. Proceedings of ACM international conference on ITS, pp. 11–14. Available at: https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1936655

16.

Kim

Park

C-Y

, et al. (2016) A new tactile device using magneto-rheological sponge cells for medical applications: experimental investigation. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical 239: 61–69.

17.

Komaragiri

Begley

Simmonds

(2005) The mechanical response of freestanding circular elastic films under point and pressure loads. Journal of Applied Mechanics 72(2): 203–212.

18.

Laycock

Day

(2003) Recent developments and applications of haptic devices. Computer Graphics Forum 22(2): 117–132.

19.

Mazursky

Koo

J-H

Yang

T-H

(2018) Experimental evaluation of a miniature haptic actuator based on electrorheological fluids. In: SPIE smart structures and nondestructive evaluation, Denver, CO, 15 March.

20.

Monkman

(1992) An electrorheological tactile display. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 1(2): 219–228.

21.

Nakagawa

Kamimura

Kawaguchi

(2012) MimicTile: a variable stiffness deformable user interface for mobile devices. In: Proceedings of the 2012 ACM annual conference on human factors in computing systems, pp. 745–748. Available at: https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2207782

22.

Pang

Tan

Durlach

(1991) Manual discrimination of force using active finger motion. Perception & Psychophysics 49(6): 531–540.

23.

Park

Khatib

(2006) A haptic teleoperation approach based on contact force control. The International Journal of Robotics Research 25(5–6): 575–591.

24.

Pfeiffer

Mavroidis

Bar-Cohen

, et al. (1999) Electrorheological fluid based force feedback device. In: Proceedings of the 1999 SPIE telemanipulator and telepresence technologies VI, pp. 88–99. Available at: https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/conference-proceedings-of-spie/3840/0000/Electrorheological-fluid-based-force-feedback-device/10.1117/12.369269.short

25.

Phillips

(1969) Engineering Applications of Fluids with a Variable Yield Stress. Berkeley, CA: University of California, Berkeley.

26.

Poupyrev

Maruyama

(2003) Tactile interfaces for small touch screens. In: Proceedings of the 16th annual ACM symposium on user interface software and technology, pp. 217–220. Available at: https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=964721

27.

Poupyrev

Maruyama

Rekimoto

(2002) Ambient touch: designing tactile interfaces for handheld devices. In: Proceedings of the 15th annual ACM symposium on user interface software and technology, pp. 51–60. Available at: https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=571993

28.

Rekimoto

Schwesig

(2006) PreSenseII: bi-directional touch and pressure sensing interactions with tactile feedback. In: CHI ’06 extended abstracts on human factors in computing systems—CHI EA ’06, pp. 1253–1258. Available at: https://www2.sonycsl.co.jp/person/rekimoto/papers/chi06-presense.pdf

29.

Roudaut

Karnik

Löchtefeld

, et al. (2013) Morphees: toward high “shape resolution” in self-actuated flexible mobile devices. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems—CHI ’13, pp. 593–602. Available at: https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2470738&dl=ACM&coll=DL

30.

Ryu

Koo

J-H

Yang

T-H

, et al. (2015) Mechanical and psychophysical performance evaluation of a haptic actuator based on magnetorheological fluids. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures 27(14): 1967–1975.

31.

Ryu

Yang

Kim

, et al. (2012) Design of a new miniature haptic button based on magneto-rheological fluids. In: IEEE international conference on automation science and engineering, pp. 121–124. Available at: https://www.computer.org/csdl/proceedings/case/2012/0430/00/06386463-abs.html

32.

Song

Morris

Colgate

(2005) Haptic telemanipulation of soft environment without direct force feedback. In: Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE international conference on information acquisition, pp. 21–25. Available at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1635047

33.

Srinivasan

Basdogan

(1997) Haptics in virtual environments: taxonomy, research status, and challenges. Computers & Graphics 21(4): 393–404.

34.

Stangroom

(1983) Electrorheological fluids. Physics in Technology 14: 290–296.

35.

Taylor

Hosseini-Sianaki

Varley

(1996) An electrorheological fluid-based tactile array for virtual environments. In: Proceedings of 1996 IEEE international conference on robotics and automation, pp. 18–23. Available at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/503567

36.

Tsujita

Kobayashi

Nakano

(2010) Design and development of a Braille display using micro actuators driven by ER suspension. International Journal of Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics 33(3–4): 1661–1669.

37.

Vemuri

Jhon

Zhang

, et al. (2012) New analysis of yield stress on giant electrorheological fluids. Colloid and Polymer Science 290(2): 189–192.

38.

Vlassak

Nix

(1992) A new bulge test technique for the determination of Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio of thin films. Journal of Materials Research 7(12): 3249–3342.

39.

Wen

Huang

Yang

, et al. (2003) The giant electrorheological effect in suspensions of nanoparticles. Nature Materials 2: 727–730.

40.

Wereley

Pang

(1998) Nondimensional analysis of semi-active electrorheological and magnetorheological dampers using approximate parallel plate models. Smart Materials and Structures 7: 732–743.

41.

Whittle

Atkin

Bullough

(1996) Dynamics of an electrorheological valve. International Journal of Modern Physics B 10(23–24): 2933–2950.

42.

Han

, et al. (2018) A test of giant electrorheological valve in DC and square wave AC fields with different frequencies. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures 29(2): 250–254.

43.

Yang

Koo

Kim

, et al. (2017) Modeling and test of a kinaesthetic actuator based on MR fluid for haptic applications. The Review of Scientific Instruments 88(3): 035004.

44.

Yang

Kwon

H-J

Lee

, et al. (2010) Development of a miniature tunable stiffness display using MR fluids for haptic application. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical 163(1): 180–190.