Ultrasound Haptics

http://www.bris.ac.uk/news/2014/december/haptic-shapes-using-ultrasound.html

Ultrasound is focused to create the shape of a virtual sphere Bristol Interaction and Graphics group, University of Bristol, copyright © 2014 Share this article Press release issued: 2 December 2014

Technology has changed rapidly over the last few years with touch feedback, known as haptics, being used in entertainment, rehabilitation and even surgical training. New research, using ultrasound, has developed a virtual 3D haptic shape that can be seen and felt. The research paper, published in the current issue of ACM Transactions on Graphics and which will be presented at this week’s SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 conference [3-6 December], demonstrates how a method has been created to produce 3D shapes that can be felt in mid-air.

The research, led by Dr Ben Long and colleagues Professor Sriram Subramanian, Sue Ann Seah and Tom Carter from the University of Bristol’s Department of Computer Science, could change the way 3D shapes are used. The new technology could enable surgeons to explore a CT scan by enabling them to feel a disease, such as a tumour, using haptic feedback. The method uses ultrasound, which is focussed onto hands above the device and that can be felt. By focussing complex patterns of ultrasound, the air disturbances can be seen as floating 3D shapes. Visually, the researchers have demonstrated the ultrasound patterns by directing the device at a thin layer of oil so that the depressions in the surface can be seen as spots when lit by a lamp. The system generates a virtual 3D shape that can be added to 3D displays to create something that can be seen and felt.

The research team have also shown that users can match a picture of a 3D shape to the shape created by the system. Dr Ben Long, Research Assistant from the Bristol Interaction and Graphics (BIG) group in the Department of Computer Science, said: “Touchable holograms, immersive virtual reality that you can feel and complex touchable controls in free space, are all possible ways of using this system.

“In the future, people could feel holograms of objects that would not otherwise be touchable, such as feeling the differences between materials in a CT scan or understanding the shapes of artefacts in a museum.” Paper Rendering Volumetic Haptic Shapes in Mid-Air using Ultrasound by Benjamin Long, Sue Ann Seah, Tom Carter, Sriram Subramanian in ACM Transactions on Graphics.

Further information

A longer video of the technology is available on YouTube. A

bout the Bristol Interaction and Graphics The Bristol Interaction and Graphics (BIG), based in the University of Bristol’s Department of Computer Science, is united by a common interest in creative interdisciplinarity. BIG acts as a hub for collaboration between social scientists, artists, scientists and engineers to combine efficient and aesthetic design. The group is particularly interested in areas which couple the design of devices with deployment and evaluation in public settings. Members of the group have expertise in research areas spanning human-computer interaction, visual and tactile perception, imaging, visualisation and computer-supported collaboration.

YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/BristolIG

About the ACM SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 Asia’s largest computer graphics (CG) event, SIGGRAPH Asia 2014, will take place in Shenzhen, China at the Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center from 3 to 6 December 2014. Over 7,700 attendees from over 60 countries are expected, making the conference and exhibition the largest and most respected computer graphics conference in Asia. Through a conference (3 to 6 December) and trade exhibition (4 to 6 December), a multitude of exciting SIGGRAPH Asia activities will showcase the industry’s latest digitally-enabled means of expression. This year, the line-up of conference programs will include the Computer Animation Festival, Courses, Workshops, Emerging Technologies, Posters, Symposium on Mobile Graphics and Interactive Applications, Technical Briefs, and Technical Papers.