SensAble Technologies to showcase PHANTOM haptic devices at Haptics Symposium

SensAble Technologies, Inc®, a leading provider of haptic devices, 3D modeling software, and dental CAD/CAM solutions, is showcasing a wide range of haptically-enabled computer applications using its industry-leading PHANTOM® haptic devices, at the 18^th Haptics Symposium starting Thursday, March 25th. The event is held in conjunction with the IEEE Virtual Reality 2010 conference which began this weekend at the Westin Waltham-Boston.

“The QuickHaptics micro API: Enabling Haptic Mashups”

Haptics, the science of touch, allows computer users to “feel” virtual objects in a computer application. SensAble is the force-feedback haptic device provider of choice with over 8,000 of its systems installed worldwide in such applications as 3D modeling, medical skills training and assessment, stroke rehabilitation, molecular modeling, assembly path planning, haptically-guided robotics, training for the visually impaired and even professional hockey player skills testing. Haptically-enabled applications let users acquire skills that often can only be learned by feeling, and then practice to perfection -- with no risk to the trainee or a patient -- and provide for objective skills assessment.

Demonstrations at the Haptics Symposium, created by customers of SensAble and its reseller SenseGraphics of Stockholm, Sweden, use multiple types of PHANTOM devices and include:

• Medical Core Skills Trainer. The Core Skills Trainer uses haptics to teach key dexterity and perceptual skills that are important to all health professions, such as abdominal palpation, breast and rectal exams, yet can only be learned by feeling. This professional, game-like learning environment was created by award-winning UK educator Dr. Sarah Baillie, inventor of the “Haptic Cow” veterinary simulator, in partnership with SenseGraphics. The trainer affords clinicians unlimited practice on computers, at their convenience, before attempting these procedures on patients. Progress is recorded and displayed, with built-in tutorials which mean no instructor is needed to guide the learning process.
• Needle Insertion. Developed for a UK drug manufacturer to teach doctors the exact feeling when administering the proper injection of the manufacturer’s paralytic drug to treat a muscle spasm. When users hold SensAble’s haptic device, they experience the exact sensation of piercing the skin and underlying muscle tissue just enough, but not too greatly, to deliver the proper dosage.
• Stroke Rehabilitation. Created by Curictus AB of Sweden, this application allows patients to perform video game-like exercises in the comfort of their home using a PHANTOM haptic device that pushes back on the patient’s hand to deliver specific, quantifiable forces, while collecting 3D hand movement data. Results are collected and transmitted via the Internet for assessment and modification by a therapist.
• Punch Biopsy Simulation. Developed by the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC), this simulation emulates various lesions and skin thicknesses and includes SensAble’s PHANTOM haptic device, which provides force feedback to teach a trainee the optimal placement and expected “feeling” of obtaining skin punch biopsies at different locations on the body. This simulator also provides a method of evaluating competency with an expert online or in a self-administered session. OSC currently is conducting validation studies of the punch-biopsy system, including both medical and veterinary studies.
• Dental Bite Articulation. This hands-on demo/proof-of concept of a computer-based, haptic simulation of bite articulation created by SensAble allows the user to analyze a person’s bite and alignment in a manner similar to traditional methods that dentists use, but without the use of bite paper or a mechanical articulator.

“Haptics are changing the way tactile skills are learned and can be measured – providing a lower-cost, risk-free and more objective computer-based approach across many industries and applications,” said Joan Lockhart, vice president of sales and marketing for SensAble Technologies. “We are incredibly proud of the innovative use of haptics by our customers, and are pleased to showcase just a few of these here at the Haptics Symposium. This is where the industry visionaries meet and exchange ideas, and we look forward to seeing new innovations in this exciting and rapidly expanding field.”

SensAble is co-exhibiting at the Haptics Symposium with SenseGraphics, which is showcasing one of its immersive workbenches. This immersive display features SensAble haptic devices and enhances the haptic experience by providing true 3D stereo performance in high resolution. At the event SensAble is also showcasing its OpenHaptics® developers’ toolkit and QuickHaptics® micro API. These software development tools allow programmers to add a sense of touch to their applications faster and more easily than ever before, as detailed in the company’s poster entitled, “The QuickHaptics micro API: Enabling Haptic Mashups,” which will be on display.

SensAble offers a broad range of PHANTOM haptic devices, from the entry-level Omni to a high-end 3.0 6 DOF (Degrees of Freedom) premium device, allowing developers to select the appropriate forces and workspaces for their applications. The OpenHaptics toolkit, as well as the QuickHaptics micro API are available at no charge to academic institutions and students who are SensAble PHANTOM customers.