Fingeret

For more information, check the first author’s website.

Please see the supplemental video uploaded in ACM DL.

About #

In a mixed reality (MR) environment, where physical and virtual worlds merge, seamless interactions between objects in both physical and virtual worlds are required. In realizing haptic feedback to the finger in a mixed reality environment, it is necessary to achieve this without covering the inside of the fingertip to not interfere with manipulating objects in the physical world and providing haptic sensations while manipulating them. However, conventional haptic feedback devices cannot provide a wide range of tactile feedback without interfering with such interactions in the physical world.

In this study, we propose “Fingeret,” a fully open fingertip haptic feedback device that enables seamless interactions and a wide range of haptic feedback in the physical and virtual worlds. Fingeret can provide a haptic sensation without covering the inside of the fingertip with a newly developed finger side actuator (referred to as FSA) and can also provide a wide range of tactile feedback by combining a conventional fingernail actuator (FNA).

Principle #

As shown in the figure below, when the rollers on the finger side are rotated internally, the finger sides are pulled, and the fingerpad is deformed as if it is in contact with the object. On the other hand, when the rollers on the finger side are rotated externally, the finger side is pushed, and the fingerpad is deformed as if it is released from the object. By controlling the direction and time of rotation of the rollers, we aim to generate skin vibrations similar to the sensation of pressing a switch on a keyboard or stroking a bumpy object.

Application #

We envision the following applications for Fingeret in an MR environment. For example, seamless interaction in molecular design. Here, the user always wears Fingeret when working on the molecular design.

• A. The user launches a memo application on a tablet device and writes a molecular formula using a pen.

• B. The user searches the Internet for a molecular formula.

• C. The user designs the molecule by manually picking up the projected molecule using the hand-tracking system installed in the spatial reality display.

The system allows haptic information to be added without interfering with pen or tablet manipulations and also allows haptic feedback during virtual object manipulation without changing the device.

Publications #

• Tomosuke Maeda, Shigeo Yoshida, Takaki Murakami, Kenroh Matsuda, Tomohiro Tanikawa, and Hiroyuki Sakai. 2022. Fingeret: A Wearable Fingerpad-Free Haptic Device for Mixed Reality. In Symposium on Spatial User Interaction (SUI ‘22). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 3, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1145/3565970.3567703