Tactile haptics and sensing technology plays a crucial role in the AR/VR and medical robotics fields by providing touch input and feedback for human-computer interactions. However, many existing haptics technologies offer limited feedback— only in one direction (normal stress), very coarse resolution, and only on/off control. These limitations hinder the accurate recreation of touch sensations, particularly on sensitive areas like fingertips, due to restricted degrees of freedom and inadequate stress density. This device addresses these issues by offering tactile haptics and sensing with three-dimensional analog feedback and high resolution, achieved through piezoelectric metamaterial designs. Piezoelectric structures, combined with passive materials, enable the metamaterial to produce controlled level of deformations in normal and two planar shear directions when electric potentials are applied. This design allows for the creation of a haptic field in contact with the user's skin and, with the reversibility of piezoelectric effects, tactile sensing stress field can also be collected and reconstructed into stress field map.
Project is currently funded by: Federal