Proactive Desk II: Development of a New Multi-object Haptic Display Using a Linear Induction Motor

The Proactive Desk is a force feedback system using a two-degree of freedom linear induction motor (LIM) designed for ordinary desktop operations. The system provides two-dimensional force feedback on a desktop surface, but only for a single object. This means that when several users operate this system together, only one user at a time can acquire force feedback from the system. In this paper, we propose a new-generation haptic display, Proactive Desk II, which uses an advanced LIM for multi-object driving, and develop a prototype system based on our approach. The system employs a cluster of coils for producing magnetic fluxes individually underneath the desktop, and those synthesize several traveling magnetic fields as a result. These magnetic fields simulate a local region of the field generated by our first-generation system, being able to drive multiple objects separately.