Design and Evaluation of a Soft Robotic Smart Shoe for Haptic Terrain Rendering

摘要

Haptic terrain rendering is challenging in most virtual reality applications. While existing physical terrain display devices focus on rendering gross terrain features, like slopes and stairs, the bladder based soft robotic smart shoe can render subtle features as well as slopes. This research improves smart shoe design to provide more consistent haptic display among different users and improve shoe life. New bladder models, including wall mechanics and air behavior, allow parametric shoe simulations to study design variables, loading scenarios, and user sizes. Pareto optimal design is applied to derive customized shoe designs. Experiments validate models and demonstrate significantly improved durability. Subject tests measure biomechanical response and gather survey data, which demonstrate haptic rendering of terrain and the ability to compensate uneven terrain.