Bits and pieces of November 2010

AAC Acoustic Technologies
http://www.aacacoustic.com
I recently had a meeting with them in Stockholm. One of the largest acoustic and haptic components provider for mobile devices. I hope to discover more about their components and solutions.

Haptics Chrome
https://github.com/mohamedmansour/haptics-chrome-extension
This Google Chrome extension adds haptics support to Google Chrome. Allows the web to send touch events to the device so that the user can feel what is happening.

SmartCall and SkinDisplay
via Core77
RIM + RCA + Vitamins Design proposing a skin display to alert and communicate personal messages to the user in less binary and disruptive ways. It reminds me of my old BA project Puce.

Reflective Haptics, by Fabian Hemmert
http://www.fabianhemmert.com/projects/reflective-haptics
Frictional actuation for haptic feedback with pen stylus. Video available. Nice idea but I wonder how much haptic qualities is lost by using a actuated ball on the tip of the pen. It sure adds some possibilities for feedback, but I guess we loose a bit too. Fabian also gave a talk at TEDxSalzburg earlier this month about less-disruptive mobile phones.

ImpAct: Immersive Haptic Stylus
Demoed at UIST 2010
ImpAct is a stylus which can dynamically change its effective length and it is equipped with sensors to calculate its orientation in world coordinates. Video available.

Axsotic’s 3D-Spheric-Mouse
http://gizmodo.com/5681524/is-this-the-mouse-of-the-future

da Vinci robots perform first all-robot surgery McGill University
http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/21/first-all-robot-surgery-performed-at-mcgill-university/
I don’t like haptic arm-type devices, but sure they are useful for minimally invasive surgery. It’s better than having to open up bodies. I wonder how good/hard is the feedback on the da Vincis robots.