Haptography: Digitizing our sense of touch - Katherine Kuchenbecker

Translator: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Morton Bast

翻译人员: Silas Lee 校对人员: Jiawei Ni

I'm a mechanical engineering professor

我是宾夕法尼亚大学的

at the University of Pennsylvania,

一名机械工程教授

and my favorite hobby is photography.

我的爱好是摄影

And as I travel around the world,

当我环游世界的时候

I love taking photographs like these,

我喜欢像这样照相

so I can remember all the beautiful and interesting things

这样我就可以记住我所有见到的

that I've seen.

美丽有趣的事物

But what I can't do is record and share

但是我没办法做到的是记录和分享

how these objects feel to touch.

这些东西摸起来是什么感觉

And that's kind of surprising,

而这也是一种会令人惊讶的感觉

because your sense of touch is really important.

因为你的触觉真的非常重要

It's involved in every physical interaction you do every day,

在你每天做的每一个身体的互动，

every manipulation task, anything you do in the world.

每一个控制的动作，在这世界上你做的任何事情中 都有触觉的参与

So the sense of touch is actually pretty interesting.

因此，触觉是很非常有趣的

It has two main components.

它有两个主要组成要素

The first is tactile sensations,

第一个是触感

things you feel in your skin.

是你皮肤感受到的感觉

And the second is kinesthetic sensations.

第二个是运动觉

This has to do with the position of your body and how it's moving,

而这与你的身体的位置，如何移动

and the forces you encounter.

以及你所受的外力有关

And you're really good at incorporating

并且你很擅长

both of these types of sensations together

结合这两者的感觉

to understand the physical interactions you have with the world

去理解你和这个世界之间的互动

and understand as you touch a surface:

和当你触摸到一个表面时

is it a rock, is it a cat, is it a bunny, what is it?

明白它是一个石块，还是一只猫，或是一个兔子， 它是什么呢？

And so, as an engineer,

因此，作为一个工程师

I'm really fascinated

我对此很着迷

and I have a lot of respect for how good people are with their hands.

并且我对人们拥有一双手是多么好 感到很敬佩

And I'm intrigued and curious

同时我被勾起了好奇心

about whether we could make technology better

关于我们是否可以让科技更好

by doing a better job at leveraging

通过在用触觉影响人的能力方面

the human capability with the sense of touch.

做得更好

Could I improve the interfaces to computers and machines

我能否优化电脑和机器的界面

by letting you take advantage of your hands?

通过让你运用你的双手的优势

And indeed, I think we can,

确实，我认为我们可以

and that's at the core of a field called haptics,

而那就是力触觉领域的核心

and this is the area that I work in.

同时这也是我工作的领域

It's all about interactive touch technology.

它就是交互是触摸技术

And the way it works is,

它的原理

as you move your body through the world,

就像是你在这个世界中移动你的肢体

if, as an engineer, I can make a system that can measure that motion,

如果，作为 一个工程师， 我可以制造一个可以测量那个动作，

and then present to you sensations over time

并在之后再将触觉传感给你的系统

that kind of make sense,

那感觉就可以被感知到了

that match up with what you might feel in the real world,

它与你在真实世界可能会有的感觉一致

I can fool you into thinking you're touching something

我可以骗你让你以为你正在触摸某物

even though there's nothing there.

尽管那什么都没有

So here are three examples

好了，这有三个例子

and these are all done from research in my lab at Penn.

这些都是在我在宾大的实验室里的研究中完成

The first one is all about that same problem that I was showing you:

第一个就是关于我刚向你们展示过的一个问题

how can we capture how objects feel

我们如何能够捕获到对物体的感觉

and recreate those experiences?

然后再现那些感觉

So the way we solve this problem

所以我们解决这个问题的方法是

is by creating a hand-held tool

通过制造一个便携的工具

that has many different sensors inside.

这里面有很多不同的传感器

It has a force sensor, so we can tell how hard you're pushing;

它有一个力传感器，所以我们可以了解到你的推力有多大

it has motion tracking, so we can tell exactly where you've moved it;

它有一个运动跟踪器， 所以我们可以准确了解到你将它移到了哪里

and it has a vibration sensor, an accelerometer, inside,

它还有一个震动传感器，一个加速计在里面

that detects the shaking back and forth of the tool

它可以察觉到这个工具的前后震动

that lets you know that's a piece of canvas

这可以让你知道那个东西是一块帆布

and not a piece of silk or something else.

不是一块丝绸或其他什么东西

Then we take the data we record from these interactions.

然后我们获取这些交互传感器中记录的数据

Here's ten seconds of data.

这是十秒的记录

You can see how the vibrations get larger and smaller,

你可以看到这些震动是如何随着你的运动

depending on how you move.

变大或变小

And we make a mathematical model of those relationships

接着我们对这些关系建立数学模型

and program them into a tablet computer

并将它们编程写入平板电脑中

so that when you take the stylus

因此当你拿着这个尖笔

and go and touch the screen,

去触摸这个屏幕时

that voice-coil actuator in the white bracket

那个在白色托架中的音圈制动器

plays vibrations to give you the illusion

产生震动让你产生

that you're touching the real surface,

你正在触摸物体真正的表面的错觉

just like if you touched, dragged back and forth, on the real canvas.

就好比像你在触碰，前后拉拽真正的帆布

We can create very compelling illusions.

我们可以创造非常强烈的幻觉

We can do this for all kinds of surfaces and it's really a lot of fun.

我们可以使所有种类的表面实现这个 它真的非常有意思

We call it haptography -- haptic photography.

我们称之为触觉反馈技术--触觉的摄影术

And I think it has potential benefits in all sorts of areas

并且我认为它在各种领域都有潜在的价值

like online shopping, maybe interactive museum exhibits,

比如线上购物，又或许是互动博物馆

where you're not supposed to touch the precious artifacts,

在那里你不被允许触摸珍贵的艺术品

but you always want to.

但你总是想去碰

The second example I want to tell you about comes from a collaboration I have

我想为你讲述的第二个例子

with Dr. Margrit Maggio at the Penn Dental School.

是来自我和宾大牙科学院 Margrit Maggio医生的一个合作成果

Part of her job is to teach dental students

她工作的一部分是教牙科的学生

how to tell where in a patient's mouth there are cavities.

如何知道在病人的口中哪有龋洞

Of course they look at X-rays,

当然他们会看X光

but a large part of this clinical judgment comes from what they feel

但是这样的临床诊断的一大部分是来自他们的感觉

when they touch your teeth with a dental explorer.

当他们用牙探针触碰你的牙齿时

You've all had this happen, they go across.

你们都经历过这个，这很普遍

What they're feeling for is if the tooth is really hard, then it's healthy,

如果这个牙齿是非常坚硬的他们感觉到的是什么， 那说明它很健康

but if it's kind of soft and sticky,

但如果它是软的并且黏糊糊的

that's a signal that the enamel is starting to decay.

那是牙釉质蛀蚀的标识

These types of judgments are hard for a new dental student to make,

做出这些种类的判断对一个新牙科学生来说是困难的

because they haven't touched a lot of teeth yet.

因为他们还没有触碰过很多的牙齿

And you want them to learn this before they start practicing

而你想要他们在为真正的病人实践之前

on real human patients.

掌握这些

So what we do is add an accelerometer on to the dental explorer,

所以我们做的是在牙探针中加入一个加速计

and then we record what Dr. Maggio feels

然后我们将Maggio医生触碰不同的拔出的牙齿时

as she touches different extracted teeth.

所感知的内容记录下来

And we can play it back for you as a video

然后我们将它用视频的形式给你播放

with a touch track --

通过一个触碰跟踪--

not just a sound track, but also a touch track,

不仅是一个声音跟踪，也是一个触碰跟踪

that you can feel by holding that repeating tool.

你就可以通过拿着那个重复工具来感知

You feel the same things the dentist felt when they did the recording,

你可以感觉到牙医做记录时和他一样的感觉

and practice making judgments.

并练习做出判断

So here's a sample one.

这有一个样本

Here's a tooth that looks kind of suspicious, right?

这有一个牙齿它看起来有些可疑，对吗？

It has all those brown stains.

它有很多的棕色污渍

You might be thinking, "We should definitely put a filling in this tooth."

你可能会认为， “很明显我们应该放一些填充物在这个牙齿里”

But if you pay attention to how it feels,

但是如果你注意到了它的触感是什么样的

all the surfaces of this tooth are hard and healthy,

这个牙齿的所有表面都是坚硬并且健康的

so this patient does not need a filling.

所以这个病人不需要填补牙齿

And these are exactly the kind of judgments doctors make every day

这些的确是医生每天都要做的判断

and I think this technology we've invented has a lot of potential

我认为我们已经发明的这个技术

for many different things in medical training, because it's really simple

在医疗训练中的不同处有很多的潜能， 因为它真的很简单

and it does a great job at recreating what people feel through tools.

并且它在再现人们通过工具得到的感觉方面做得非常好

I think it could also help make games more interactive and fun

我想它还可以让游戏更加具有互动性和有趣

and more realistic in the sensations that you feel.

并且在你的感觉上更加真实

The last example I want to tell you about is again about human movement.

我想讲的最后一个例子还是关于人的动作

So if any of you have ever learned sports,

如果你们都曾学习过体育运动

how do you get good at something like surfing?

你是如何熟练掌握像冲浪这样的运动的呢？

You practice.

你练习

You practice some more and more, right?

你一次又一次地去练习，对吗？

Making small corrections, maybe getting some input from a coach,

做一些小的改正，可能是从教练那得到一些建议

learning how to improve your motions.

学习如何改进你的动作

I think we could use computers

我认为我们可以使用电脑

to help make that process more efficient and more fun.

来让那个过程更加高效并且更加有趣

And so here, for example, if I have six different arm movements

举个例子，这就是如果我有六个不同的手臂摆动

that I want you to learn,

需要你去学习

you come into my lab at Penn and try out our system.

你来到我在宾大的实验室然后试用我们的系统

We use a Kinect to measure your motions, we show graphics on the screen,

我们用一个Kinect（XBOX360体感周边外设）来测量 你的动作，我们在屏幕上展示图片

and then we also give you touch cues,

然后我们还会给你一些触碰提示

haptic feedback on your arm,

触觉反馈在你的手臂上

delivered by these haptic arm bands which have motors inside,

通过这些里面有电动机的触觉臂带来传递，

and guide you as you move.

并且在你运动的时候引导你

So, if we put it together,

所以，如果我们把它放到一起

as you're trying to track this motion,

当你正在尝试跟踪这个动作时，

if you deviate -- say, maybe, your arm is a little too high --

如果你偏离了--假设，可能是，你的手高了一点点--

we turn on the motors right there on the skin

我们把在这皮肤上的电动机打开

to let you know you should move down,

来让你知道你应该向下移一点

almost like a coach gently guiding you

就很像一个教练温柔地指导你

and helping you master these movements more quickly

帮助你更快地掌握这些动作

and make more precise corrections.

和做些更加精确的改正

We developed this system for use in stroke rehabilitation,

我们为在中风康复中的使用开发了这个系统

but I think there are a lot of applications,

但我认为它还有很多的应用

like maybe dance training or all sorts of sports training as well.

比如可能是舞蹈训练或是各种各样的体育训练

So now you know a little bit about the field of haptics,

那么现在关于触觉这个领域你们了解了一点

which I think you'll hear more about in the coming years.

关于这些，我想你们在将来的几年中会听到更多

I've shown you three examples.

我已经向你们展示了三个例子了

I just want to take a moment

我只是想花些时间

to acknowledge the great students who work with me in my lab at Penn

来感谢那些在宾大实验室里和我一起工作的很棒的学生们

and my collaborators.

以及我的合作者

They're a great group.

他们是一个非常棒的团队

I also want to thank you for your kind attention.

我还想感谢你们的关注

(Applause)

（掌声）