December 18, 2017

Stanford students learn to enhance computers and robots with touch

Students in Allison Okamura’s freshman Introductory Seminar designed touch-based devices to help pedestrians navigate, enhance a classic game and create depth perception for the blind.

By Nathan Collins

The woman’s eyes were closed, her hands at her sides, as she walked confidently toward a wall. Just before making contact, she jerked to a halt – “Oh!” A small vibration on her forehead had warned her of the obstacle just a few feet ahead.

Haptic Headband had done its job.

The device’s creators, Sarah Pinto, Bryce Huerta and Elina Thadhani, presented the headband at a Dec. 7 open house for Haptics: Engineering Touch, an Introductory Seminar for frosh taught by Allison Okamura, a professor of mechanical engineering. Haptics refers to touch-based interactions, which are central to much of Okamura’s research.

The group’s project involves ultrasonic distance sensors and miniature vibrating motors mounted on a headband, plus some prototype electronics stored in a waistpack. The idea, the team said, was to help blind people navigate their surroundings more easily. While Haptic Headband doesn’t yet give users very detailed information about what’s around them, “you can feel large objects coming toward you,” Thadhani said.

The Virtual Gear Shifter created by Brad Immel, Jonathan Sosa and Tiger Sun. Freshman haptics class open house. Alison Okamura is the professor. — A user tries out Virtual Gear Shift, the brainchild of Tiger Sun, Jonathan Sosa and Brad Immel, who provided live sound effects to go along with the shifter’s haptic feedback. Sun said he was inspired in part because he’d missed the chance to learn how to drive a car with manual transmission. Virtual Gear Shift vibrates slightly when in gear and resists gear shifts until drivers let the clutch out.
Image credit: L.A. Cicero

Grad student Laura Blumenschein, left, observes Grace Zhao and Goli Emami's project which gives haptic feedback while navigating a maze. Cara Welker, right, a grad student in bioengineering tests the device. — Graduate student Laura Blumenschein, left, watches as fellow graduate student Cara Welker, right, tries out Grace Zhao and Golrokh Emami’s haptic navigation aid in a computer maze. Zhao and Emami designed the device, a bracelet that vibrates to indicate when to turn and in which direction, to supplement smartphone navigation apps. “We thought that if you had a bracelet, you could focus on driving, not looking at your phone,” Emami said.
Image credit: L.A. Cicero

The inner workings of one of the devices at the freshman haptics class open house. — The inner workings of one of the haptic devices at the *Haptics: Engineering Touch* open house.
Image credit: L.A. Cicero

Students test each other's devices at the freshman haptics class open house. — Students test out a virtual version of Operation designed and built by Maria Hernandez, Thomas Hsieh and Meilan Steimle. “I think we all really enjoyed it,” Steimle said of the class, noting that it was “very rewarding” to work on such human-centered projects.
Image credit: L.A. Cicero

Course development assistant, Tyler Cloyd, tests the Haptic Headband, a wearable assistive tecnology for the visually impared. — Course development assistant Tyler Cloyd tests Haptic Headband, a wearable assistive technology for the visually impaired designed by Sarah Pinto, Bryce Huerta and Elina Thadhani.
Image credit: L.A. Cicero

Visiting scholar, Rui Yang, tests the depth sensing glove developed by freshmen Megumi Sano and Kira Jan. — Visiting scholar Rui Yang, left, tests a depth-sensing glove developed by Megumi Sano, Kira Jan and Alema Fitisemanu (not pictured). “What we wanted to do was make a way for blind people to map out their environment,” Fitisemanu said. It could also help workers in low-light situations navigate more safely, he said.
Image credit: L.A. Cicero

Senior Moses Swai, left, gets a demonstration from Jabreea Johnson, Charlotte Peale, and Johnny Armenta who developed a Foot Haptic device. — Senior Moses Swai, left, gets a demonstration of a foot haptic device from designers Jabreea Johnson, Charlotte Peale and Johnny Armenta. The device takes pressure readings from the foot and translates them into vibrations on one’s arm. The device could help people with diabetes, who often lose feeling in their feet, Peale said.
Image credit: L.A. Cicero

Professor Alison Okamura, left, celebrates a successful project with freshmen Brad Immel and Tiger Sun who worked on a team with Jonathan Sosa to create a Virtual Gear Shifter.
Image credit: L.A. Cicero

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Haptics to assist, haptics to train

Okamura has taught the class twice before, always to students with little or no exposure to robotics or computer programming. This year, despite no explicit instructions to do so, each of the class’s six teams developed haptic devices to assist users with special tasks or teach them new skills. “The students are very interested in assistive technology and training,” said Okamura, who is also a member of Stanford Bio-X and the Stanford Neurosciences Institute.

In addition to Haptic Headband, three other teams built assistive haptic devices: a vibrating glove designed to give a kind of depth perception to people with blindness, a navigational wristband that vibrates when users are supposed to turn right or left, and a footbed fitted with pressure sensors that relay information to a vibrating armband.

Charlotte Peale, who designed the foot haptic device with Johnny Armenta and Jabreea Johnson, said that during high school she worked at a podiatry clinic, where she encountered many people with diabetes who had lost feeling in their feet. “We wanted to know, what could we do to help them with that?” Peale said.

Two other teams designed and built haptic training systems: a realistic manual gear shift and clutch to help train young drivers and a haptics-enhanced version of the game Operation, complete with forceps that respond to how tightly they’re gripped and shake when players make a mistake, designed to help teach new surgeons.

Okamura wanted to teach a course on haptics because, she said, “it has a unique interdisciplinary nature to it” that touches on engineering, human biology, social interaction and even ethics. By choosing students with little or no background in robotics, she thought the class would be especially open-minded and explore a wide range of ideas.