A Self-Sensing Haptic Actuator for Tactile Interaction with Physical Modelling Synthesis

Matthew Davison, Andrew McPherson, Craig Webb, and Michele Ducceschi

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract:

The use of transducers to excite physical modelling synthesisers with real-world audio signals is a well established practice within the digital musical instrument design community, yet it is normally presented as a unidirectional process – energy is transferred into the system from human to instrument. In this paper, a novel approach to tactile interaction with physical modelling synthesis is presented, through the use of a self-sensing vibrotactile transducer. This enables simultaneous collocated sensing and haptic actuation with a single moving coil transducer. A current drive amplifier is used for haptic actuation, using signals derived from the physical modelling synthesiser. The varying impedance of the transducer (due to changes in the mechanical damping) enables the sensing of force applied upon the device whilst also acting as a pickup to excite the physical model, all with simultaneous haptic actuation. A digital filter equivalent of the transducer's impedance is used to prevent feedback in the system, allowing simultaneous excitation and haptic actuation without self-oscillation.

Citation:

Matthew Davison, Andrew McPherson, Craig Webb, and Michele Ducceschi. 2024. A Self-Sensing Haptic Actuator for Tactile Interaction with Physical Modelling Synthesis. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.13904955

BibTeX Entry:

  @article{nime2024_84,
 abstract = {The use of transducers to excite physical modelling synthesisers with real-world audio signals is a well established practice within the digital musical instrument design community, yet it is normally presented as a unidirectional process – energy is transferred into the system from human to instrument. In this paper, a novel approach to tactile interaction with physical modelling synthesis is presented, through the use of a self-sensing vibrotactile transducer. This enables simultaneous collocated sensing and haptic actuation with a single moving coil transducer. A current drive amplifier is used for haptic actuation, using signals derived from the physical modelling synthesiser. The varying impedance of the transducer (due to changes in the mechanical damping) enables the sensing of force applied upon the device whilst also acting as a pickup to excite the physical model, all with simultaneous haptic actuation. A digital filter equivalent of the transducer's impedance is used to prevent feedback in the system, allowing simultaneous excitation and haptic actuation without self-oscillation.},
 address = {Utrecht, Netherlands},
 articleno = {84},
 author = {Matthew Davison and Andrew McPherson and Craig Webb and Michele Ducceschi},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.13904955},
 editor = {S M Astrid Bin and Courtney N. Reed},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {September},
 numpages = {8},
 pages = {574--581},
 presentation-video = {https://youtu.be/XW-ufFB-4oc?si=Ypp20TEcHz2nk6kN},
 title = {A Self-Sensing Haptic Actuator for Tactile Interaction with Physical Modelling Synthesis},
 track = {Papers},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2024/nime2024_84.pdf},
 year = {2024}
}