Magnetic Functional Materials for Haptic Interfaces

The haptic interface has received unprecedented attention and plays a key role in the tactile interaction among humans, computers, and robots.Numerous haptic devices with tactile sensors or actuators based on piezoelectric materials, thermoelectric materials, electro-elastomer materials and magnetic functional materials, have been devised to provide cutaneous perceptions thought for the measurement and generation of some tactile information in the coding of shape, pressure, texture, vibration, temperature, roughness, or stiffness etc.Among these smart materials, magnetic functional materials bring new hope to develop high performance haptic interfaces because of their rich magnetic effects and excellent physical properties, such as high adjustability, fast response time, low power consumption, long-term stability, wearable and cost-effective characteristics.In this perspective article, we present a state-of-the-art review of haptic interfaces with magnetic functional materials.Firstly, the logical topology of haptic interfaces is briefly introduced.Secondly, the properties or applications of haptic sensors and haptic actuators based on magnetic functional materials are mainly summarized and discussed.Finally, we address the challenges, opportunities and directions for future development of magnetic functional materials for haptic interfaces to collect and generate tactile information.