TACTILE FEEDBACK OUTPUT DEVICE FOR SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE

WE PROPOSE TO MAKE AVAILABLE A NEW TYPE OF SENSORY DEVICE: ACOMPACT MULTIPLE-STIMULATOR TACTILE ARRAY MOUNTED SO THAT COMPUTER-GENERATED IMAGES MAY BE SENSED BY THE FINGER TIP. THIS DEVICE WILL AUGMENT VISUAL OUTPUT TO ENABLE MULTI-SENSORY PERCEPTION OF SURFACE TEXTURE AS MEASURED BY ASCANNING TUNNELING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE (STM). THE ELECTRICAL POTENTIALS GENERATED BY THE SCANNING TIP OF AN STM ARE TRANSLATED INTO MULTIPLE-COLORED PICTURES PORTRAYING SURFACE GEOMETRY. THE SAME DATA COULD BE DISPLAYED IN TACTILE PATTERNS VIA A VERSATILE PROGRAMMABLE TACTILE ARRAY DEVELOPED IN OUR LABORATORY. THIS DEVICE WOULD ENABLE THE STM USER TO FEEL PATTERNS OR VARIATIONS IN THE SPECIMEN SURFACE AS A CURSOR MOVES ON A VIRTUAL IMAGE OFTHAT SURFACE. MULTI-SENSORY INPUT WILL ENHANCE PERCEPTION OF TEXTURE ON SCANNED SURFACES AND LEAD TO IMPROVED HUMAN-MACHINE PERFORMANCE. IN PHASE I, AN ARRAY OF 30 TACTILE STIMULATORS DRIVEN BY SHAPE-MEMORY ALLOY WIRES WILL BE MOUNTED ON A MOVABLE MOUSE DEVICE. AN INTERFACE TO A VISUAL DISPLAY PROGRAM WILL BE CONSTRUCTED: PATTERNS ON THE VISUAL SCREEN WILL BE TRANSLATED TO TACTILE PATTERNS CONSISTING OF DOTS RAISED ABOVE A SURFACE SO THAT THESE PATTERNS ARE PERCEIVED BY TOUCH. THIS SYSTEM OF DATA FEEDBACK WILL BE EVALUATED BY EXPERIENCED STM USERS.