Tacsac: A Wearable Haptic Device with Capacitive Touch-Sensing Capability for Tactile Display
This paper presents a dual-function wearable device (Tacsac) with capacitive tactile sensing and integrated tactile feedback capability to enable communication among deafblind people. Tacsac has a skin contactor which enhances localized vibrotactile stimulation of the skin as a means of feedback to...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-08-01
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| Series: | Sensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/17/4780 |
| _version_ | 1797555812555554816 |
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| author | Oliver Ozioko William Navaraj Marion Hersh Ravinder Dahiya |
| author_facet | Oliver Ozioko William Navaraj Marion Hersh Ravinder Dahiya |
| author_sort | Oliver Ozioko |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper presents a dual-function wearable device (Tacsac) with capacitive tactile sensing and integrated tactile feedback capability to enable communication among deafblind people. Tacsac has a skin contactor which enhances localized vibrotactile stimulation of the skin as a means of feedback to the user. It comprises two main modules—the touch-sensing module and the vibrotactile module; both stacked and integrated as a single device. The vibrotactile module is an electromagnetic actuator that employs a flexible coil and a permanent magnet assembled in soft poly (dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), while the touch-sensing module is a planar capacitive metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure. The flexible coil was fabricated on a 50 µm polyimide (PI) sheet using Lithographie Galvanoformung Abformung (LIGA) micromoulding technique. The Tacsac device has been tested for independent sensing and actuation as well as dual sensing-actuation mode. The measured vibration profiles of the actuator showed a synchronous response to external stimulus for a wide range of frequencies (10 Hz to 200 Hz) within the perceivable tactile frequency thresholds of the human hand. The resonance vibration frequency of the actuator is in the range of 60–70 Hz with an observed maximum off-plane displacement of 0.377 mm at coil current of 180 mA. The capacitive touch-sensitive layer was able to respond to touch with minimal noise both when actuator vibration is ON and OFF. A mobile application was also developed to demonstrate the application of Tacsac for communication between deafblind person wearing the device and a mobile phone user who is not deafblind. This advances existing tactile displays by providing efficient two-way communication through the use of a single device for both localized haptic feedback and touch-sensing. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T16:52:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6e39c564e8bc478a804886c83f31ad5d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1424-8220 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T16:52:56Z |
| publishDate | 2020-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-6e39c564e8bc478a804886c83f31ad5d2023-11-20T11:13:57ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202020-08-012017478010.3390/s20174780Tacsac: A Wearable Haptic Device with Capacitive Touch-Sensing Capability for Tactile DisplayOliver Ozioko0William Navaraj1Marion Hersh2Ravinder Dahiya3Bendable Electronics and Sensing Technologies (BEST) Group, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UKDepartment of Engineering, Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Campus, Nottingham NG11 8NS, UKBiomedical Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8LP, UKBendable Electronics and Sensing Technologies (BEST) Group, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UKThis paper presents a dual-function wearable device (Tacsac) with capacitive tactile sensing and integrated tactile feedback capability to enable communication among deafblind people. Tacsac has a skin contactor which enhances localized vibrotactile stimulation of the skin as a means of feedback to the user. It comprises two main modules—the touch-sensing module and the vibrotactile module; both stacked and integrated as a single device. The vibrotactile module is an electromagnetic actuator that employs a flexible coil and a permanent magnet assembled in soft poly (dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), while the touch-sensing module is a planar capacitive metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure. The flexible coil was fabricated on a 50 µm polyimide (PI) sheet using Lithographie Galvanoformung Abformung (LIGA) micromoulding technique. The Tacsac device has been tested for independent sensing and actuation as well as dual sensing-actuation mode. The measured vibration profiles of the actuator showed a synchronous response to external stimulus for a wide range of frequencies (10 Hz to 200 Hz) within the perceivable tactile frequency thresholds of the human hand. The resonance vibration frequency of the actuator is in the range of 60–70 Hz with an observed maximum off-plane displacement of 0.377 mm at coil current of 180 mA. The capacitive touch-sensitive layer was able to respond to touch with minimal noise both when actuator vibration is ON and OFF. A mobile application was also developed to demonstrate the application of Tacsac for communication between deafblind person wearing the device and a mobile phone user who is not deafblind. This advances existing tactile displays by providing efficient two-way communication through the use of a single device for both localized haptic feedback and touch-sensing.https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/17/4780actuatortactile sensordeafblind communicationtactile display |
| spellingShingle | Oliver Ozioko William Navaraj Marion Hersh Ravinder Dahiya Tacsac: A Wearable Haptic Device with Capacitive Touch-Sensing Capability for Tactile Display Sensors actuator tactile sensor deafblind communication tactile display |
| title | Tacsac: A Wearable Haptic Device with Capacitive Touch-Sensing Capability for Tactile Display |
| title_full | Tacsac: A Wearable Haptic Device with Capacitive Touch-Sensing Capability for Tactile Display |
| title_fullStr | Tacsac: A Wearable Haptic Device with Capacitive Touch-Sensing Capability for Tactile Display |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tacsac: A Wearable Haptic Device with Capacitive Touch-Sensing Capability for Tactile Display |
| title_short | Tacsac: A Wearable Haptic Device with Capacitive Touch-Sensing Capability for Tactile Display |
| title_sort | tacsac a wearable haptic device with capacitive touch sensing capability for tactile display |
| topic | actuator tactile sensor deafblind communication tactile display |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/17/4780 |
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