We take it for granted that sight and sound can be recorded, stored, and replayed with high realism. Indeed, modern life is unimaginable without these technologies. For touch, however, comparable technology has long appeared unattainable. In this talk, I’ll review our group’s journey toward high-realism texture recording and replay including the novel “surface haptics” technologies we have developed, as well as key (sometimes bitter) lessons learned along the way. I’ll introduce VoxeLite, a lightweight wearable technology that matches human tactile resolution in both time and space, and, for the first time, enables (fairly) realistic texture recording and replay.
Ed Colgate is the Walter P. Murphy Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois where his principal research interests are haptic interfaces, human-robot interaction, electroadhesion, and robot dexterity. Dr. Colgate was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Haptics. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the IEEE, and a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. Dr. Colgate was one of the founding co-directors of the Segal Design Institute at Northwestern University where he directed the Master of Science in Engineering Design and Innovation, which combines graduate-level engineering courses with a broad exposure to human-centered design. Colgate and collaborator Michael Peshkin are the inventors of cobots (collaborative robots) and multiple surface haptic technologies that enable users to feel tactile effects on a touch screen. Today, Colgate is the Director of the NSF Engineering Research Center on Human AugmentatioN via Dexterity (HAND).
Edward Colgate, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University
Host: JJ Carrasco
Joan West
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