Small tactile display device with adhesive tape

Currently, we get most of the information from the computer through image and audio features. But as Korean scientists point out, the most extensive senses on the human body are touch.

While tactile computer devices actually exist, scientists are trying to make full use of this overlooked senses by developing a tactile display that can wrap around the finger like a Medical tape.

In the upcoming release of IEEE Transactions on Robotics, Ig Mo Koo, Hyouk Ryeol Choi, and colleagues at Sungkyunkwan University and Nevada University explain how they designed this kind of creative tactile display based on Soft drive technology. Overcoming the rigidity and bulk of modern devices, the new display device is flexible enough to wrap around almost any part of the body, such as fingertips, hands or arms.

Koo told PhysOrg.com 'The biggest advantage of tactile display devices on the body compared to normal display devices is flexibility. When you put a normal device on an uneven surface like human skin, you cannot activate the entire skin through its shape. However, in the case of a tactile display device on the body, it can be applied to a variety of surfaces without being restricted to the stimulating region because of its flexibility and flexibility. '

Researchers at Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea, and the University of Nevada, USA, have developed a flexible tactile display device that can wrap around the finger like a piece of adhesive tape.This device can be used to read Braille with many other applications.(Photo: Ig Mo Koo)

The researchers hope that a soft display device can provide a means of communication for people with impaired vision (for example, expression of Braille). It can also have applications such as tactile display cloths, virtual reality keyboards, remote surgical gloves, remote emotional transfer systems, and more.

'Let's assume that someone needs a tactile display on the glove-like body. When they use conventional equipment, stimuli only attach to a very limited area. But if we develop it into a tactile display device on the body, we not only create gloves in the manufacturing process, but also bring stimuli to the whole glove. '

The most important material for this display device is an electroactive polymer that can stimulate the skin without using any extra gas transfer. Polymer consists of 8 dielectric elastic film plates that are sprayed before electrodes in a fixed pattern.

Including a protective layer that separates the electrodes from the skin, the entire polymer is about 210 micro-meters thick. In their work, the researchers created a 11x14 mm polymer sheet with Velcro on the edges, and curled around the finger.

The display device can send information to the carrier when the electrode generates an electric current running along the film layers. An electric current causes the film layers to compress and spread out. Through this way, the film layers exert a force on the wearer's skin, leaving 'light feeling'. As with most polymers, this device is super elastic, meaning it can withstand strong pulling and return to its original shape.

This simple stimulation mechanism, without the need for complicated electrical devices, is one of the greatest benefits of soft tactile display devices compared to current display devices. Other benefits include energy efficiency, cost savings and ease of manufacturing. According to the researchers, the new device has a lower power source and a replacement value than the device considered optimal, devices that can be limited to specific locations.

Koo adds in the future the team plans to improve visibility, as well as develop applications such as magnetic contact transfer systems and glove-type tactile display devices.