A scientific team from the Chinese Westlake University, the Westlake Institute for Advanced Study and other Chinese research institutions has developed a haptic device for virtual reality (VR) based on the Asian art of paper folding origami. It is intended to give the user feedback on the rigidity of virtual objects and thus make the virtual experience appear more realistic.
In the scientific paper “Active mechanical haptics with high-fidelity perceptions for immersive virtual reality”which appeared in Nature Machine Intelligence, the scientists describe a spherical device that can provide haptic feedback.
“When I was at Arizona State University, my group studied curved origami and used it to tune stiffness in 2020,” says Hanqing Jiang, lead author of the study. “This work inspired us to combine origami and the metaverse. At the time, we didn’t have detailed plans for how this would work. After joining Westlake University in 2021, I was able to greatly expand my own group of mechanical and electrical engineers and create a devise a detailed plan to replicate active mechanical sensations using curved origami for the metaverse.”
Active Sensations
Several curved origami plates are incorporated into the device. Depending on the scene in a VR environment, electric motors change the angle between the origami plates. This creates an “active mechanical sensation”. It is in contrast to passive sensations such as those generated by vibrations; a previously common method to give haptic feedback. Active systems can reflect physical sensations better than passive ones, the researchers justify their approach.
The device thus makes it possible to perceive virtual objects in a similar way to those in the real world. Softness or rigidity of the objects can be simulated. The system should also allow people to have touch-related experiences by actively handling and interacting with the virtual objects. The device therefore not only generates tactile sensations when the object is merely touched. The device can also convey the feeling that the hand is being squeezed.
The tactile sensations can be “easily synchronized with specific VR content,” according to the scientists. They would then be timed to match the VR experience.
The scientists believe that origami design is superior to other passive methods and outperforms other haptic devices. The device is now to be further developed. It should then be able to generate multimodal sensations, so that active touches can be experienced and textures and temperature can be felt in virtual reality.
(olb)