Haptic Fingers for Virtual Reality

While investigating translational opportunities for soft robotics in virtual reality applications, I prototyped a few active gloves (technically just fingers at this stage) with sensing and tactile feedback. We experimented with actuated fingertip pads as well as finger-mounted actuators to resist finger curling (to simulate holding something in your hand, for example). We tried a few different concepts, including granular jamming, sheet jamming, and pneumatic bellows. The sensor comprised a soft silicone substrate with liquid metal microfluidic channels.

The results demonstrated promising force and human-interface design, but the lag time in pneumatics (100-200 ms) were too much for realistic human interactions.