Haptic interfaces can be used to add sensations of touch to virtual and augmented reality experiences. Soft, flexible devices that deliver spatiotemporal patterns of touch across the body, potentially with full-body coverage, are of particular interest for a range of applications in medicine, sports and gaming. Here we report a wireless haptic interface of this type, with the ability to display vibro-tactile patterns across large areas of the skin in single units or through a wirelessly coordinated collection of them. The lightweight and flexible designs of these systems incorporate arrays of vibro-haptic actuators at a density of 0.73 actuators per square centimetre, which exceeds the two-point discrimination threshold for mechanical sensation on the skin across nearly all the regions of the body except the hands and face. A range of vibrant sensations and information content can be passed to mechanoreceptors in the skin via time-dependent patterns and amplitudes of actuation controlled through the pressure-sensitive touchscreens of smart devices, in real-time with negligible latency. We show that this technology can be used to convey navigation instructions, to translate musical tracks into tactile patterns and to support sensory replacement feedback for the control of robotic prosthetics.

触觉界面可用于为虚拟和增强现实体验添加触觉。柔软、灵活的设备可以提供跨越身体的时空触摸模式，可能覆盖全身，在医学、运动和游戏领域的一系列应用中特别受关注。在这里，我们报告了这种类型的无线触觉界面，能够以单个单元或通过无线协调的集合显示跨大面积皮肤的振动触觉模式。这些系统的轻巧和灵活的设计结合了振动触觉致动器阵列，其密度为每平方厘米 0.73 个致动器，这超过了除手以外几乎所有身体区域的皮肤机械感觉的两点识别阈值和脸。一系列充满活力的感觉和信息内容可以通过智能设备的压敏触摸屏控制的时间相关模式和驱动幅度实时传递到皮肤中的机械感受器，延迟可忽略不计。我们表明，该技术可用于传达导航指令，将音乐曲目转换为触觉模式，并支持用于控制机器人假肢的感官替换反馈。