Design and Characterisation of Particle Jamming-Based Variable Stiffness Displays using Non-pneumatic Actuators

Particle jamming is an emergent technology widely used to create haptic devices that can change their physical stiffness to render hard or soft surfaces. Conventional implementations of particle jamming-based interfaces have relied on bulky and expensive vacuum systems to force the particles together. This paper presents designs for two alternative, mechatronic approaches to activating a particle jamming-based haptic interface. Each design is subjected to a battery of mechanical tests to evaluate the range and uniformity of the achievable hardness change and response time. Results are presented and the effectiveness of these designs is considered against established pneumatic approaches.