Haptic media construction and utilization of human-harmonized “tangible” information environment

Abstract

Our project is based on our proposed haptic primary color theory, and our aim is to construct an intelligent information environment that is both visible and tangible, and integrates real-space communication, a humanmachine interface, and media processing. We have succeeded in transmitting fine haptic sensations such as material texture and temperature from an avatar robot's fingers to a human user's fingers. The avatar robot is a telexistence anthropomorphic robot dubbed TELESAR V with body and limbs having 53 degrees of freedom. This robot can transmit visual and auditory sensations of presence to human users, in addition to haptic sensations. Other results of this research project include RePro3D a full-parallax, autostereoscopic 3D (three-dimensional) display with haptic feedback using RPT (retroreflective projection technology); TECHTILE Toolkit, a prototyping tool for the design and education of haptic media; and Haptic Editor, an interactive editing system for creating haptic-enabled 3D content.