Disney's Haptics Technology Conveys A Virtual Object's Texture Via Vibrations In Touchscreen

Researchers at the Disney Lab have formulated a new technology wherein people can actually experience the texture of a particular object being displayed in the touchscreen, the texture being conveyed through small vibrations. The method involves transmitting small vibrations via the display to imitate the sensation of shallow bumps or edges of an object. Researcher Dr Ali Israr and team are responsible for this technology, and they claim that this vibration-causing algorithm could be easily housed in the available touchscreen systems. The report further stated the more noticeable a feature (say the surface of a pineapple), the greater is the vibration needed to imitate its feel.



Ivan Poupyrev, Chief of Interaction Research group in Pittsburgh stated that the human brain registers 3D bump on a surface basically due the info it gathers due to the stretching of skin. He added that to fool the brain, the vibrations transmitted through the touchscreen artificially stretch the fingers causing a make-believe scenario of the bump for the brain to interpret.

Isar believes that this vibration system is more flexible than other existing tactile-feedback recording systems, and with the algorithms available, they've a set of controls at their disposal that allows them to tune tactile effects to a specific visual object.