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William Frier

UltraLeap (UK)

Thursday November 18th, 2021, 15h, Salle des thèses, IRIT.

Lien visio: https://univ-tlse3-fr.zoom.us/j/94820436438

Conveying touchless touch with ultrasound mid-air haptics

Abstract: Using an array of ultrasonic transducers (i.e. speaker), it is possible to create points of high pressure in mid-air, which are strong enough to stimulate the sense of touch. This approach, also referred as ultrasound mid-air haptics, enables the counter-intuitive sensation of touching something that is not there. Whilst the first proof of concept has been demonstrated a decade ago, the field of ultrasound mid-air haptics is highly multidisciplinary and a lot of ground work had to be made before HCI applications can be envisaged. In a bottom-up journey, we will therefore present the main steps leading from acoustic pressure, to skin deformation and finally to touch perception. We will then present multiple modulation and rendering techniques developed over the year to improve perceived strength, shape recognition, texture rendering and affective strokes. Finally, we will discuss how we started to apply mid-air haptics to HMI and what are the challenges we foresee ahead of us.

Bio: William Frier has a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction and is the Lead Haptics Researcher at Ultraleap. He has been working with Ultraleap technology for over 6 years and has published and patented extensively on the foundational aspects of mid-air haptics. William has been a key investigator in studying the perception of mid-air haptics which lead to various publications in HCI and Haptic conferences. He has studied Electrical and Electronical engineering at ESIGELEC (France) and Intelligent System and Robotics at University Pierre and Marie Curie (France), making him a key person in the development and integration of modular ultrasound mid-air haptic devices for a wide range of applications.