laboratory
FRIESEN HAPTICS
The Friesen Haptics Laboratory's research focuses on the actuation and perception of broadband tactile cues for enhanced interactions with haptic displays and virtual reality.
Haptic Touchscreens
Our Research
Friction-modulating touchscreens create the illusion of touching textured surfaces by rapidly changing the friction coefficient between the screen and a user’s finger, often using a technique called electroadhesion. Ongoing research topics include:
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Creating and modulating new friction patterns to display a wide array of distinguishable and intuitive haptic effects
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Developing new methods of surface actuation to engage more types of nerve endings and enhance realism of haptic effects
Wearables for Texture Display
Virtual reality headsets provide rich visual and auditory stimuli, but little haptic feedback besides rudimentary effects through handheld controllers.
Recent interest has turned towards low-profile wearable devices that can provide on-demand haptic stimulation to the body during AR and VR interactions, without limiting dexterity or range of motion.
We are interested in developing wearables that provide vibration-based sensations conveying the texture and material properties of different VR objects while optimizing actuator type, control, and placement.
