Redesign of a minimally-supervised portable hand trainer for upper limb rehabilitation after stroke

People that are recovering from a stroke need frequent and high-intensity training to regain their upper-limb capacity. This will eventually result in better performances and higher quality of their daily life. Robotic devices are often used to assist stroke patients in rehabilitation. The minimally-supervised portable hand trainer, which is...

Shape memory origami for haptics: Exploring the potential of a material system based on SMAs to generate haptic feedback for visually impaired people

This project explores the potential of a material system based on SMAs that generates haptic feedback for Visually Impaired People (VIPs). Since VIPs rely more than others on tactile information, there is a need for more natural and unintrusive haptic devices as the commonly used electromechanical actuations are often perceived as intrusive and...

Developing hybrid force feedback: coupling brakes and motors can reduce the total actuator size and improve haptics quality

Hand-worn haptic systems must be able to produce high-quality haptics while also being lightweight and energy-efficient. In order to meet market expectations, research is being done into novel drivetrains that may be implemented in hand worn devices. This is being pushed forward by the growing demand in the virtual reality sector, which is...

Integrating shape memory materials in haptic technology as an aid for the visually impaired

There are approximately 285 million people worldwide living with a visual impairment and the rate of acquired blindness is expected to continue increasing. Assistive technology for them is progressively being developed in order to enable independent living. For the blind and visually impaired, the tactile sense is the primary source of...

Haptic feedback in upper limb prostheses: Development and evaluation of a pneumatic haptic device providing feedback for upper limb prostheses

Background Upper limb prostheses help people with an upper limb deficiency in performing activities of daily living. They can be divided into two categories; body-powered and externally powered prostheses. The advantage of body-powered prostheses is that they provide feedback to the user. The advantage of externally powered prostheses is the low...

Aito Sound: A proof of concept exploration for haptics and sound with piezoelectrics

Aito has developed a technology that can be placedunderneath surfaces to give haptic feedback. They make use of piezoelectricdiscs to sense a pressure difference and actuate a pulse if this differencereaches a certain level. This system is possible because of the piezoelectriccrystals in the discs. These crystals create...

Optimization of scale-up of KNLN piezocomposites: for flexible haptic feedback applications

In this thesis, we focus on flexible haptic feedback applications which rely on the sensation of touch to display a feedback to the user that establishes a system to user interaction. Piezocomposites made of piezoceramic and polymer phases can be used here due to their high flexibility and piezoelectric properties that enable them to deform...

Designing a Haptic Palm Strap for the SenseGlove

This document details a lab study into bimanual synchronised haptics, followed by the design of a product that can be used in combination with the SenseGlove to provide their wearer with haptic feedback based on how they operate a steering mechanism in Virtual Reality. The Dutch Ministry of Defense approached SenseGlove B.V., a company...

SoftGlove: Finger Vibrotactile Feedback

In this report the finger vibrotactile subsystem of the SoftGlove wearable haptic feedback glove is discussed. This system is an upgrade over the vibrotactile feedback that the current SenseGlove haptic feedback glove provides. The designed system consists of a linear resonant actuator (LRA) on each finger, which is controlled by a dedicated LRA...

Supplementing haptic feedback through the visual display of flight envelope boundaries

Haptic feedback on the side stick has been used in previous research on assisting pilots in recognising flight envelope limits. Pilots indicated, however, that it was not always clear what the haptics were trying to tell them, leading to a lower system acceptance. This paper describes the design and evaluation of a visual display in...

The Exter project, Haptic feedback glove

Virtual reality is a technology that immerse users to an out of the world experience. Making use of a VR headsets like the Oculus rift. According to literature one of the aspects that is less addressed, by current available products that are compatible with virtual reality, is the sense of touch. This master thesis shows the Research and...