Air Permeable Vibrotactile Actuators for Wearable Wireless Haptics

Zhaoyang Li, Yuan Ma, Kaijun Zhang, Jun Wan, Dazhe Zhao, Yucong Pi, Gangjin Chen, Jianfeng Zhang, Wei Tang, Liwei Lin, Junwen Zhong

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Vibrotactile actuators can evoke mechanical stimulations on human skins to induce haptic feedbacks for various human machine interaction applications. However, efforts toward their practical usages encounter several engineering challenges, including wearable comfortability and output abilities. Here, air permeable actuators are developed and embedded in common fabrics for vibrotactile actuation, achieving excellent air permeability of 108 L m−2 s−1, low preload requirement of 10 mN, high output sensitivity of 0.2 mN/V, and good mechanical durability by surviving 11 million testing cycles. As demonstration examples, a wireless haptic feedback glove is shown to distinguish 32 different English characters and symbols with an overall accuracy of 97.8%, and large size actuators (10 × 10 cm2) are also proved for providing haptic feedback for parts of human body. As such, the proposed system opens a new class of wearable vibrotactile actuators for potential applications in wide fields of metaverse, teleoperation, smart textiles, and robotics.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2211146
JournalAdvanced Functional Materials
Volume33
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Feb 2023

Keywords

  • actuators
  • air permeable
  • haptic feedback
  • human-machine interactions

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • General Materials Science
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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