VibroTracker

Summary

It is exciting merely to watch sports events, but simulating the haptic sensations experienced by a player would make spectating even more enjoyable. This is not peculiar to sports events. In addition to video and audio, the ability to relive the sensations experienced by others would also offer great entertainment value at temporal and spatial distances. However, existing systems have some problems in measuring vibrations. A contact-type vibrometer deforms the original vibrations and is a burden to wear or carry. Even with a non-contact sensor like a microphone, it is difficult to measure slight vibrations of a fast-moving target against the surrounding noise. Our VibroTracker system solved these issues by using a laser Doppler vibrometer and a high-speed optical gaze controller: 1ms Auto Pan-Tilt system using Saccade Mirror. Our system can measure the vibration of a fast-moving target with high accuracy, in real time, without any influence from surrounding noise or physical contact, enabling users to relive the vibrotactile sensations experienced by others. In addition, this system can also be used as a visual microphone because the microscopic vibrations of a object include sound-related movements. Since measurable frequency of our system easily exceeds 20kHz, an audible acoustic wave frequency, high quality remote sound acquisition is acheved.

Movie

Publications

• Miyashita, L., Zou, Y., and Ishikawa, M.: VibroTracker: A Vibrotactile Sensor Tracking Objects, SIGGRAPH 2013, Emerging Technologies, Anaheim, California, USA, 21-25 Jul. (2013) [PDF], [WMV 24.0MB], [YouTube]