Hairlytop interface: An interactive surface display comprised of hair-like soft actuators

There has been much research on interactive surface displays, which are displays that can change the geometric state of their surfaces actively. Most of these displays consist of multiple haptic units, which are composed of pins that actively move up and down. The envelope of these pins mimics the surface shape of an arbitrary object. However, it is difficult to improve the spatial resolution of such displays and to enlarge the display area because of the physical complexity. In this research, we propose the hairlytop interface, which is a collection of hair-like soft actuators composed of shape memory alloy. The proposed interface is capable of improving spatial resolution and can be used in developing larger surface displays. This paper details the hairlytop interface and discusses assumed applications.