Haptic Rendering

Haptics is the science of applying touch-based feedback in human-computer interaction. Imagine a virtual environment displayed in the computer monitor or an immersive virtual reality system. Haptics provide the capability to touch objects, hold them, and feel interaction forces during exploration and manipulation.

Six-degree-of-freedom (6-DoF) haptic rendering refers to the contact determination, force computation, and force rendering of the interaction between a manipulated object and its environment. Rendering of rich stimuli (such as crisp contact or forces due to detailed geometry) requires high force update rates, often conflicting with the complexity of the problem.

In collaboration with Prof. Ming Lin from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, we have worked on collision detection and haptic rendering algorithms for stable and responsive rendering of the interaction between complex, textured objects. In particular, we exploit observations from psychophysics research for the design of efficient, perceptually-accurate haptic rendering algorithms.

• N. Galoppo, M. A. Otaduy, S. Tekin, M. Gross, M. C. Lin, Interactive Haptic Rendering of High-Resolution Deformable Objects, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 4563, 2007, pp. 215-223
  [Abstract] [PDF]
• M. A. Otaduy, M. Gross, Transparent Rendering of Tool Contact with Compliant Environments, Proceedings of the Second Joint EuroHaptics Conference and Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems (Tsukuba, Japan, March 22-24, 2007), pp. 225-230
  [Abstract] [PDF] [Video] [Video]
• M. A. Otaduy, M. C. Lin, A Modular Haptic Rendering Algorithm for Stable and Transparent 6-DOF Manipulation, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 22, no. 4, 2006, pp. 751-762
  [Abstract] [PDF]
• M. C. Lin, M. A. Otaduy, Sensation-Preserving Haptic Rendering, IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, vol. 25, pp. 8-11, 2005
  [Abstract] [PDF]