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Haptic
Technology: an animated explanation
The
animation below explains how haptic virtual objects are created using force-feedback
technology. The animation also explains concepts such as haptic rendering
and haptic interfaces.
To
watch this animation, you will need Flash (tm). Over 90% of all browsers
have it preinstalled.
Otherwise,
you can download it for free here.
Click here for the haptic technology animation
Internet
touch technology: Touch our logo over
the internet
Society
briefing: What
is "Haptics"? Why is Haptics important?
A
note on the physical concepts used in the animation
The concept of force
is used to describe how haptic virtual objects are created. Although it
is possible to use equivalent, related physical concepts such as mechanical
energy, force was used here for
three main reasons:
i)
Force is a concept that is readily related to everyday experience.
Its intuitive meaning provides a good approximation to its precise physical
meaning. As a result, using the concept of force
allows for a simple, accessible introduction to the workings of haptic
technology.
ii)
The most commonly available haptic interfaces can be defined as force-producing
devices, and they are used and programmed accordingly.
iii)
For many practical uses of haptic technology, the concept of force
allows expressing haptic interaction in simple, convenient terms.
However, as happens frequently
when analyzing the physics of mechanical interaction (for example, when
characterizing the dynamics of moving objects), using concepts such as
mechanical
energy instead of force may be
simpler in some haptic technology applications (for example, the related
mathematical analysis may be easier to perform). To decide which physical
concepts are more useful in a particular situation, it is necessary to
have a thorough understanding of physics. |
