What If You Could Feel the Mona Lisa? The Future of Digital Touch and Haptic Feedback with Easa Aliabbasi
How was your academic journey up to now?
My background is in electrical engineering, mechatronics engineering, and computational sciences and engineering. I studied at University of Tabriz and then moved to Koç University in Istanbul, where I did my PhD working on haptic technologies [Ref 3], electro adhesion [Ref 1,4], tactile displays [Ref 2], and the physics of electro-mechanical interactions between fingers and electro adhesive tactile displays [Ref 5]. Afterward, I moved to Germany, where I am now a PostDoc at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics, working on human-computer interaction studies.
What are tactile devices?
When we move our hand on any material, vibrations are generated between the hand and the surface, which have a unique frequency spectrum. Our hand collects that vibration information, and that’s how we perceive it as a certain material or as a texture. Tactile devices have the capability to replicate material or texture perceptions by generating certain types of vibrations on the fingertips. Touchscreens are a type of tactile devices that can generate vibrations on the fingertip skin by creating an electric field between the hand and the touchscreen’s surface when the finger is touching it.
What are the applications of tactile devices?
A big field is online shopping: If you are wondering how a shirt feels, a haptic screen can create the illusion of touching the fabric. Or perhaps you’ve wondered what it would be like to touch the Mona Lisa's painting? Another application is social touch, where haptic devices would allow haptic communication between people in addition to phone and video calls.
How are impedance measurements helping your research?
The current technology of electro adhesive touchscreens operates with voltage amplitudes of 50V, limiting its application for devices such as smartphones or tablets. Reducing the operation voltage requires understanding the interactions between the finger and the touchscreen – and that’s where impedance measurements come in. Our research involves investigating 1) the physics behind these interactions, that is phenomena such as electric double layer, and electrode polarization impedance, and 2) different materials and thicknesses, with the goal to enhance the performance of the electro adhesive devices to enable low-voltage operation.
How did you start with impedance measurements?
When I came up with the idea of doing the measurements with an impedance analyzer, I borrowed an instrument and made some measurements but the measurements were not making sense. We looked into it and contacted a group at the University of Oslo that has over 30 years of experience with similar electrical impedance measurements. They invited me to their lab, and I worked there for a few months. They taught me how to make proper, reliable measurements and then I performed almost two months of data collection. Every day, we collected data, and we found very interesting results [1,2,4,5]. When I was back at Koç University, we bought our own MFIA, because it is very easy to use and offers a wide range of different measurement possibilities in a single instrument, and since then, the lab has been using it for many projects.
What were the key changes to get reliable results?
The measurements didn't make sense for two reasons: first, I was not using proper cables, and second, I was not fixing the cables.
What are your plans for the future?
After finishing my projects at the Max Planck Institute, I would love to stay in this field, continuing with human interactions, because it’s so interesting. In this field, you are interacting with technology, hardware, software, and also on the other side, that is, with humans and understanding how humans perceive and react to the world.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I really love to travel, and while traveling, I love to walk. When I go to a new city, I prefer to walk instead of taking the bus. Sometimes I walk 20 kilometers a day.
Anna: I love gardening. I'm trying to grow vegetables but right now it’s more like I'm growing a farm for slugs and other animals that are eating my veggies.
Reference:
- Experimental Estimation of Gap Thickness and Electrostatic Forces Between Contacting Surfaces Under Electroadhesion
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aisy.202300618 - Effect of Finger Moisture on Tactile Perception of Electroadhesion
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10637769 - Multiplexed Piezoelectric Electronic Skin with Haptic Feedback for Upper Limb Prosthesis
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adsr.202400100 - Effect of Electrode Polarization Impedance on Electroadhesion
https://2023.worldhaptics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/1075-doc.pdf - Electro-Mechanical Contact Interactions Between Human Finger and Touchscreen Under Electroadhesion
https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.18725
