We are used to hearing and seeing people thousands of miles away through the Internet, but what if we could touch them?
Nintendo ’s game console Switch has a feature called “HD Vibration”. When there are some shocking scenes in the game, such as stunned in “Star Dew Grain”, there is god in “The Legend of Zelda” The temple rises and an earthquake occurs. The handle of the Switch will give a different degree of vibration according to the magnitude of the event, making people more immersive.
In addition, the Taptic Engine on the iPhone can also give us a feeling of adjusting the alarm clock that is physically present when we adjust the alarm clock through light and heavy vibration feedback.
Only, this kind of tactile experience with only one or two vibration motors can simulate the sense of weight and weight, but overall, the final vibration feedback is still too simple. There are not many scenes that can be simulated. What about your bunch of vibration motors?
Vibration motor attached to the skin
According to AFP, Nature published a on the wireless tactile feedback interface of the skin surface Research , it can simulate the tactile sensations generated when interacting with others by using several internal micro-vibration drives about the size of a coin, each of which can vibrate up to 200 times per second. Simple vibration is so rough. It’s like putting a pair of “VR glasses” on the skin, so maybe we can call it a “VR skin.”
▲ Photo from: nature
And, as far as the actual products are concerned, this device is really like the skin, because the researchers embedded these drivers in a very soft silicone resin, which can reduce the foreign body sensation when it is applied to our skin , More and more like a plaster.
What ’s more awesome is that because the device can directly power and control wirelessly, even the battery is saved, and it wo n’t turn you into an ICU patient when you use it. There are many wires connected to the computer or plugged in to charge. , Just post it directly and it’s OK.
The reason why all digital equipment can achieve the wireless state that all of us dream of is thanks to the drivers in this “VR skin”. It only needs 1.75 mW (milliwatts) to work as usual. The power required is extremely low. In comparison, a single driver currently in commercial use is generally greater than 100 mW.
“Touch” virtual
Northwest University did such a demonstration. After a child puts this “AR skin” on his back, the mother at the other end of the screen touches the computer screen to transfer the corresponding touch to the child’s back, compared to Seeing and hearing, the touch from the mother may trigger the child’s deeper emotions. Of course, it is not ruled out as a thriller.
▲ Photo from: Northwestern University
From here, we can divergently think of more usage scenarios.
For example, when a couple who loves in different places wants to have a bold idea, they can use this VR skin to hold hands remotely to enhance their feelings.
If the “electronic skin” is made into a tight-fitting suit that covers the whole body, you can also get the real feeling of being in the bullet forest when playing “Battlefield”, and then with VR or AR glasses, one can “touch” The digital world that is coming may really be coming.
Recall that it was not long ago that I saw in “Number One Player” that when the male and female protagonists are dating on the Internet, you can experience the virtual tactile transmission of one person and one another after one year. This is like a dream. The scene can be experienced without having to put your life into it like “Dream of Dreams” or “Sword Art Online”.
▲ Picture from: Qubits
Also, in addition to being of great significance to the online world, medical uses are also indispensable, such as allowing the prosthetic limb to “own” the sense of touch, and there are already actual cases.
In the eight-year war in Iraq, a soldier named Garrett Anderson was forced to amputate to the elbow because he had broken his right arm with a grenade fragment on the battlefield. However, due to the installation of prosthetic limbs, the basic daily living activities have not caused much obstacles.
But the problem is that, because he doesn’t have a sense of touch, Anderson can’t handle the weight. For example, he almost broke his mother’s hand and fractured it. When he was holding his two children, he only felt on one side. Obviously, although there is no hindrance in functionality, there is still no way to make up for it in terms of emotion and some small details.
After the Northwest University research team came to the door, Anderson’s situation improved.
▲ Picture from: AFP
The research team combined the triggering device with the prosthetic limb, and then attached the “AR skin” to the arm. In this way, the touch felt by Anderson’s prosthetic fingers would be immediately transmitted to the skin of the arm, completing “Curve Save the Nation” restored touch.
It is even more surprising that after using it for a while, the brain seems to treat this simulated, ectopic touch as if it were from a prosthetic limb. Anderson feels that his prosthetic limb is “live”, Researcher John A. Rogers, a professor of materials science and biomedicine at Northwestern University in the United States, calls this falsehood a “replacement sensation.”
There is still more in the future …
Rogers In an interview with Deeptech , “Nature” is just the starting point of this research, but It may be commercialized within a year or two.
The next thing to solve is the problem of vibration fineness and current.
Tao Xiaoming, Chair Professor of Textiles and Clothing Science, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said in Nature magazine that human skin can be touched at the sub-millimeter level, but the existing products are only millimeter-level. Can feel not enough “HD”. Therefore, in the future, it needs to be miniaturized to one-tenth to one-third of the original in order to achieve a nearly perfect simulation of real haptics.
