Mimicking Touch 如何在视频通话中“碰触”到对方

Video calls are a commonoccurrence， but have you imagined beingable to touch the person on the other endof the line？ Scientists are making this areareality.

Researchers at the University of New South Wales， Australia， have invented a soft Skin Stretch Device （SSD）， a haptic device that can recreate the sense of touch . Haptic technology mimics the experience of touch by stimulating localized areas of the skin in ways that are similar to what is felt in the real world， through force， vibration or motion.

Vibration is the most common haptic technology today and has been built into many electronic devices， such as one attached to the back of a trackpad in laptops， which simulates a button clicking. However， haptic feedback with vibration becomes  less  sensitive when  used continuously. The existing technology also has great difficulty recreating the sense of touch with objects in virtual environments or located remotely， according to Mai Thanh Thai， lead author of the study.

The  new technology overcomes issues with existing haptic devices. The research team introduced a novel method to recreate the sense of touch through soft， artificial “muscles”.

視频通话是常事，但你是否想象过能触碰到屏幕另一边的人？科学家正在将其变为现实。

澳大利亚新南威尔士大学的研究人员发明了一种柔软的皮肤拉伸装置，这是一种可以重现触觉的设备。触觉技术通过刺激皮肤的局部区域，利用力、振动或者运动来模仿触摸的体验，达到类似于真实世界中的感觉。

振动是当下最常见的触觉技术，已配置在了许多电子设备中。例如，附在笔记本电脑触控板背面的设备可以模拟点击按钮。但是，当设备被持续使用时，振动的触觉反馈敏感度便会下降。该研究的第一作者麦坦泰表示，现有技术也很难在虚拟环境或远程的物体上重现触感。

这项新技术克服了现有触觉设备中存在的问题。研究团队引入了一种新方法，通过柔软的人造“肌肉”来重现触觉。

“Our 3-Axis SSD， built into the fingertips of the wearable haptic glove we also created， is like wearing a second skin—its soft， stretchable and mimics the sense of touch— and will enable new forms of haptic communication to enhance everyday activities，” said Thanh Nho Do， senior author of the study.

It works like this： Imagine you are at home and you call your friend who is in England. You wear a haptic glove with the SSD and your friend also wears a glove with integrated 3D force sensors. If your friend picks up an object， it will physically press against your friends fingers. And their glove with 3D force sensors will measure these interactions. The force signals can be sent to your glove so your device will generate the same 3D forces， making you experience the same sense of touch as your friend.

The haptic devices could be applied in various scenarios， allowing users to feel objects inside a virtual world or at a distance. This could be especially beneficial during such times like the COVID-19 pandemic when people rely on video calls to stay connected with loved ones. Or it could be used in medical practices. Doctors can feel a patients organ tissues with surgical tools without touching them.

“我们的三轴皮肤拉伸装置内置在我们研发的可穿戴触觉手套的指尖上，就像戴了柔软的可拉伸、可模拟触觉的第二层皮肤，将使触觉交流的新形式得以实现，以增强日常活动。”这项研究的项目负责人坦仁多表示。

它的工作原理是这样：想象你正在家中给远在英国的朋友打电话。你戴上配有皮肤拉伸装置的触觉手套，你的朋友也戴着配有集成三维力传感器的手套。当你的朋友捡起一个物体时，这个物体就会压在你朋友的手指上，而手套上的三维力传感器会测量这些相互作用。这些三维力信号可以发送到你的手套上，因此你的设备也将产生相同的三维力，让你能体验到和你的朋友一样的触感。

触觉设备可以应用于多种场景中，让用户感受到虚拟世界或远距离的物体。新冠疫情期间，人们依靠视频电话与挚爱的人保持联系，在这些时候，触觉设备就格外有用。它也可以用于医疗实践中，医生无须触摸，通过外科医疗器械就能感受到病人的器官组织。