Kim Seongho, Kim Taeyeon, Kim Choong Sun, Choi Hyeongdo, Kim Yong Jun, Lee Gyu Soup, Oh Ockkyun, Cho Byung Jin
School of Electrical Engineering, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Nano Electronics & Energy Device Lab, KAIST, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
Soft Robot. 2020 Dec;7(6):736-742. doi: 10.1089/soro.2019.0158. Epub 2020 Apr 15.
In this study, we introduce a haptic communication method using two-dimensional (2D) arrayed thermal haptic module. The 2D thermal haptic module delivers real-time information to user through the thermoception of the user's skin. Such 2D thermal haptic module could be realized using flexible thermoelectric (TE) device and independent temperature control of individual unit cell that are arranged in the form of 2D array. The independent temperature control and access to the specific TE unit cell could be achieved using active matrix addressing and serial H-bridge circuit. For the optimal design of the 2D thermal haptic module, an analysis of the spatial precision of human sense on temperature has been implemented. As a demonstration, the 2D thermal haptic module is attached to blind-assistive cane to inform the position of obstacles to the user. This study demonstrates that the flexible TE device can find a new application field as an information transfer tool, not only just as an energy generator or cooler, which are the conventional applications of TE device.
在本研究中，我们介绍了一种使用二维（2D）阵列式热触觉模块的触觉通信方法。该二维热触觉模块通过用户皮肤的热感觉向用户传递实时信息。这种二维热触觉模块可以使用柔性热电（TE）器件以及以二维阵列形式排列的单个单元电池的独立温度控制来实现。独立温度控制以及对特定TE单元电池的访问可以通过有源矩阵寻址和串行H桥电路来实现。为了对二维热触觉模块进行优化设计，已对人类温度感知的空间精度进行了分析。作为演示，二维热触觉模块被附着在盲人辅助手杖上，以向用户告知障碍物的位置。本研究表明，柔性TE器件不仅可以作为能量发生器或冷却器（这是TE器件的传统应用），还可以作为信息传输工具找到新的应用领域。
