18 November 1998

Carnegie Mellon Researchers Will Unveil Magnetic Levitation-Based Haptic Interface for Computers at ASME Symposium in Anaheim

Carnegie Mellon University researchers have developed a new type of haptic interface with which computer users employ magnetic levitation to physically interact with simulated objects and environments on their computer screens. "Haptic" refers to something sensed by touch.

The device is unique because it enables users to not only touch these objects, but to reach in and manipulate them in three dimensions as well. The system also eliminates the bulky links, cables and mechanisms of current haptic interfaces in favor of a single, lightweight moving part which floats on magnetic fields.

The new interface will be unveiled November 19-20 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, at the 17th Annual Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environments and Teleoperator Systems, sponsored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

The system includes a bowl-shaped device containing six levitation coils surrounded by strong permanent magnets. A protruding handle attached to the bowl is grasped by the computer user, enabling interaction with solid three-dimensional models graphically depicted on the computer screen. The entire system is housed in a desktop-high cabinet.

"With a magnetic levitated haptic interface, you can reach into a simulated environment and feel the force and torque of simulated objects," says Ralph Hollis, a principal research scientist at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute. "Early in their development, computers used to be just text. Then came graphics, 3D graphics and speech, involving more and more of a user's senses. Of the last three senses left -- smell, taste and touch -- the latter will likely be the most useful." Hollis and his Ph.D. student, Peter Berkelman, believe that future applications of the technology will be in computer augmented design, medical training, entertainment, flight simulation and the interactive control of remote robots.

Hollis and Roberta Klatsky, head of the Psychology Department in Carnegie Mellon's College of Humanities and Social Sciences, have received a $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study the psychophysical aspects of magnetic levitation devices relative to how people perceive virtual and real worlds.

For more information on Carnegie Mellon's magnetic levitation haptic interfaces, check the Web site at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/msl/www/haptic/haptic_desc.html

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