Haptic communication system using cutaneous actuators for simulation of continuous human touch
摘要
說明書
The harness 1103 affixes the cutaneous actuators 1104 to fixed positions facing the skin on the dorsal side of the forearm 1101. The harness 1103 may wrap around the receiving user's forearm 1202 when fitted on the receiving user's forearm 1202. The harness 1103 may be made of any combination of elastic or inelastic fabric, such as rayon, nylon, foams, rubbers, polymers, cotton, etc. The harness 1103 may further include rigid members, made of plastic, metal, or other rigid materials in order to provide structural support for the harness 1103, to protect sensitive components embedded in the harness 1103, or to cause the harness 1103 to be affixed at a certain position on the user's forearm 1101. In one embodiment, the harness 1103 includes a fitted rigid member that is contoured according to the shape of a wrist of a human of average height and build and of a particular age (and gender). The harness 1103 is built around this fitted rigid member such that a wearer of the harness 1103 wears the harness 1103 in a certain position which conforms the fitted rigid member to the contour of the shape of the receiving user's wrist. If the harness 1103 is worn in any other position, the fitted rigid member may cause discomfort for the receiving user as it does not match the contour of the user's arm in that position. Thus, the harness 1103 can be designed to be worn in only a limited number of positions, which in turn causes the cutaneous actuators 1104 to be in a similar position (within a threshold range of distances) each time the harness 1103 is worn by the receiving user. Instead of rigid members, in other embodiments, non-rigid members, such as thicker fabrics (e.g., exceeding 1 cm), fabric cutouts, and so on, may be used to achieve the same effect. As an example, the harness 1103 may be configured such that the two dimensional array of cutaneous actuators 1104 are placed 2 cm in a proximal direction from user's wrist, and such that the two dimensional array of cutaneous actuators 1104 are situated medially on the dorsal side of the user's forearm 1101. Additionally, instead of the user's wrist, any another anatomical feature of the user's forearm (or user's body) may be used instead as a landmark to affix the haptic device.
