WoodenHaptics

A new company has been formed that offers Woodenhaptics kits as well as a professional haptic device: Polhem. The company is called Haptikfabriken AB - Swedish Haptics Factory and is located in Stockholm, Sweden (obviously). Please visit their website to learn more or order a kit, delivery world-wide. Please note that Woodenhaptics is still open source if you would like to make one from scratch!

We will demo WoodenHaptics at WorldHaptics in Munich, June 7-9 2017. Warmly welcomed to try it out! In the same time we will release the updated schematics etc for version 1.5. The main difference is that USB is our primary interface now and that the electronics support vintage devices. Jonas Forsslund and Jordi Solsona will be travelling by train from Stockholm to Munich. Please e-mail jonas@forsslund.org if you want to meet to discuss collaboration etc!

D1.01 WoodenHaptics 1.5 featuring USB and vintage device support
Jordi Solsona Belenguer(1), Jonas Forsslund(1), Ellinore Seybolt(2), Alexander Jonsson(2)
(1) Forsslund Systems AB, (2) KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Abstract: WoodenHaptics was first presented at the ACM TEI conference 2015 as a module-based open source hardware spatial haptic device. In this demo an updated version is shown featuring the new full USB support making it feasible to use it with a standard laptop and a consumer power supply. This demo will feature three haptic devices that will use the same modular electronics box that we have designed. First, the open-source WoodenHaptics device that is designed for modification in shape and size as well as tuning of parameters to fit a particular task or application. Second, a compact work-in-progress aluminum-based device that has embedded the electronics inside. And finally we show how the vintage Phantom Premium haptic device can be given USB-support using just two additional passive adapters and our electronics box. The demo applications are from the open-source software library Chai3D 3.2 and will be shown on two laptops running Ubuntu 16.04. The schematics, firmware code and software drivers can all be downloaded from woodenhaptics.org and used under a creative-commons share-alike license.

An updated and in-depth research paper about WoodenHaptics has been published in the IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine. The title is Spurring Innovation in Spatial Haptics: How Open-Source Hardware Can Turn Creativity Loose. If you do not have access to the publication feel free to send an email to one of the authors (e.g. Jonas Forsslund; jonas@forsslund.org) for a copy.

Starting today, January 26, 2017, we are offering kits to get started in building your own WoodenHaptics device! All commercial activities are handled by Forsslund Systems AB, founded by author Jonas with friends. WoodenHaptics will remain open source, this is for convenience only. If you want to request a quote, help with proposals or request a discount please e-mail jonas@forsslundsystems.com. The kit is sold either as a complete kit or individual components (e.g. electronics box). Please see the Price List for more information on contents, shipment etc.

The kit is the updated "2017 edition" which includes USB support (1Khz update rate), optional DAQ card support (up to 10Khz), lighter motors, laptop-style power supply and a fancy red ball handle.

Ericsson Research demoing Telehaptics using the WoodenHaptics device at Mobile World Congress.

Here is a another update, we have been working on the idea of a pre-packaged kit and will be soon able to tell more. Things have been a bit delayed since we have all been working on finishing our PhD theses, but the last one of us (that's me) will defend April 6, so more focus on the kit can be expected onwards. Feel free to ask around on the forum or email me at jofo02 at kth.se.

This is a quick update for those who follow our project: usb is on the way! This means that you won't have to buy an expensive PCIe card (the Sensoray DAQ) just to use your Wooden Haptics based device. Furthermore, we are making our own motor driver (replacing ESCON) that will cut the cost too. We will keep backwards compatibility with the previous motherboard, this will just replace the ESCONS modules and instead of the connector for the DAQ you connect an mBED development board. We just ordered this from the pcb factory and will report in a week or two on the results of our first tests.

We got some interest in buying kits and we are looking into producing a small series. We want to evaluate the usb opportunity first though, because we could drop costs quite much as well as supporting laptops and not just full size computers (due to the PCIe card). We will come back here later as this progress. Are you interested in buying a kit? Fill in the form under "Buy".

Welcome! On this site you will find the information you need to start fabricating your own grounded spatial haptic device based on our default open source design. This site is essentially the companion to our TEI2015 conference paper WoodenHaptics: A Starting Kit for Crafting Force-Reflecting Spatial Haptic Devices. We hope you want to share our joy of crafting haptic devices!

Thanks for all the feedback and encouragement in the TEI2015 demo session. The video from the TEI talk is now online. If you would like to get in touch with us you are very welcome to email me: jofo02@kth.se.