Haptic Duplicator
Yuta TAKEUCHI

Sho KAMURO

Kouta MINAMIZAWA

Susumu TACHI

Keio University
4-1-1 Hiyoshi,
Kohoku-ku, Yokohama,Japan+81-45-564-2499

University of Tokyo
7-3-1 Hongo,
Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo,Japan+81-45-564-2499

Keio University
4-1-1 Hiyoshi,
Kohoku-ku, Yokohama,Japan+81-45-564-2499

Keio University
4-1-1 Hiyoshi,
Kohoku-ku, Yokohama,Japan+81-45-564-2499

yuppon@tachilab.org

kamuro@tachilab.org

kouta@tachilab.org

tachi@tachilab.org

ABSTRACT

provided on fingers.

We propose a haptic interface for touching 3DCG models basedon the tactile copy & paste technology. In case of conventional
systems for providing haptic sensation of touching virtual objects,
it is challenging to reproduce realistic surface textures of objects.
By scanning vibrotactile stimulation as audio signals, we realizedrecording of textures of real objects and reproducing of them witha wearable haptic glove with force and vibrotactile feedbacks. In
our system, the user can appreciate a number of virtual objects
with various scanned textures, and also, change their textures by
haptic copy & paste from real objects to virtual 3DCG models.

On the other hand, it is also a problem how to generate adequate
virtual haptic signals that represent realistic surface textures ofreal objects. Some research has been conducted on scanning oftextures of objects in the real world from a sensor imitating theproperty of human fingers [4]. The finger-shaped sensor acquires
stimulus in stroking objects and the scanned data are transmitted
for displaying in real-time. Some other research recorded force
and acceleration values to reproduce realistic haptic sensations [5].
These kinds of copy & paste methods save many steps ofdesigning and calculating enormously complex signals of haptictextures.

Categories and Subject Descriptors
H.5.2 [User Interfaces]: Haptic I/OGeneral Terms
Design,Human Factors

Keywords
haptic display; haptic rendering; haptic sensing;

1. INTRODUCTION

Our aim is to disseminate the haptic technologies as the thirdmedia and extends the conventional multimedia, which isconsisted of visual information and auditory information. Basedon this motivation, we present a next-generation VR experience
with a less-constrained wearable haptic device and highly realistic
haptic textures. Our proposed system enables the user to touch 3D
virtual objects with his/her hands freely and enjoy their shapes ortextures (Figure 1), which are generated based on copy & paste oftactile textures from real objects to virtual objects (Figure 2).

In recent years, there are many 3DCG contents. It is mentioned as
the background that the general methods for the stereoscopic
rendering were established. However, the general technique for
haptic rendering on the virtual objects, which can be applied toseveral systems and devices easily, does not exist.
There are some attempts to provide haptic sensation of touchingvirtual objects. Haptic workstation [1] provides force feedback
from virtual objects on each finger and arm. However, grounded
components for kinesthetic feedback restrict the user’s
movements, so that active and natural behaviors of the user areinhibited. HapticGEAR [2] is a portable force display that allows
the user to walk around in an immersive virtual reality
environment. However, it imposes a strict limitation on themovements of the user’s arm and requires wearing a heavy
backpack to touch the virtual object. Then we have developed awearable haptic glove [3] that provides haptic sensation on theuser’s fingers using pseudo-haptic based on the pressures
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Figure 1. Touching textured virtual object

Figure 2. Haptic copy & paste

2. Copy and Paste of Tactile Textures
TECHTILE toolkit [6], proposed in 2011, is an easy-to-make andeasy-to-use prototyping tool for design and education of haptic
media, which is composed of a haptic recorder (a microphone),
haptic reactors (small vibrators), and a signal amplifier that is
optimized to present not only zone of audibility (20-20000Hz) but
also low frequency (1-20Hz) vibration (Figure 3). Tactile
stimulations obtained while scanning are recorded based on audiosignals. Therefore, the stimulation is editable diversely. We used
TECHTILE toolkit for copying of tactile textures from real
objects and playback as high-realistic vibrotactile sensations. We
applied the recorded vibrotactile signals (Figure 4) on 3DCG
models by pasting them as textures.

Figure 5. The haptic glove (Left) and display mechanism toreproduce pressure and vibrotactile sensation (Right)

Figure 6. Constructed system
Figure 3. TECHTILE toolkit

4. Conclusion
In this paper, we proposed a wearable haptic interface based on
copy & paste of tactile textures from real objects to virtual objects.
The system allows the user to touch textured virtual objects
actively and to feel a variety of haptic sensation by thecombination of force and vibrotactile stimulation. Besides, ourproposing method for the haptic rendering on 3D objects is
applicable for a variety of existing media simply because we use
audio signals as vibrotactile stimulation.

REFERENCES
Figure 4. Recorded vibrotactile signal

3. System Configuration
Our system for haptic interaction with textured 3D objects iscomposed of an optical motion capture system (Natural Point Inc.,OptiTrack S250e), a 3D projector (Solidray Co.Ltd., Sight3D )and a wearable haptic glove improved from conventional one ([3]).
The haptic glove consists of a motor and a voice-coil on eachfinger (Figure 5). From the tracking data on user’s head and hand
movement, we calculate the force feedback on each finger basedon the physical simulation using PhysX (nVidia Corp.) and thevisual rendering for stereoscopic image. The calculated contact
forces are provided by the use of motors, and voice-coil vibrators
reproduce recorded tactile textures based on velocities of fingers’
movements.
As a result, the user wearing 3D glasses and the haptic glove cansee and touch 3D virtual objects displayed in front of them
(Figure 6). Contact forces and tactile textures are provided by thehaptic glove, and therefore the user can enjoy realistic haptic
interaction with various kinds of textured 3D objects.

This research has been supported by JST-CREST Haptic Media Project[1] CyberGlove Sysytems, Haptic Workstation,
http://www.cyberglovesystems.com/products/hapticworkstation/overview[2] Hirose, M. Hirota, K. Ogi, T. Yano, H. Kakehi, N. Saito,
M. Nakashige, M. HapticGEAR: the development of awearable force display system for immersive projection
displays, IEEE Virtual Reality 2001.
[3] Kouta Minamizawa, Sho Kamuro, Souichiro Fukamachi,
Naoki Kawakami and Susumu Tachi: GhostGlove: Haptic
Existence of the Virtual World, ACM SIGGRAPH 2008
New tech demos[4] Takahiro Yamauchi, Shogo Okamoto, Masashi Konyo,
Yusuke Hidaka, Takashi Maeno, and Satoshi Tadokoro:
Real-Time Remote Transmission of Multiple Tactile
Properties through Master-Slave Robot System, IEEE ICRA
2010.
[5] W. McMahan and K. J. Kuchenbecker: Haptic Display ofRealistic Tool Contact Via Dynamically CompensatedControl of a Dedicated Actuator, IEEE IROS 2009.
[6] Kouta Minamizawa, Masashi Nakatani, Yasuaki Kakehi,
Souichiro Mihara and Susumu Tachi: TECHTILE toolkit,IEEE Haptics Symposium 2012 demonstrations