Computational wave-front manipulation for novel user-interface design

Abstract: Our group has been at the forefront of shaping the acoustic wave-fronts to create novel mid-air displays and haptic devices. Our mid-air display is created by trapping tiny objects in the sound-field and manipulating them to create persistence of vision displays. We manipulate the wave-front by computing acoustic holograms that are delivered using phased arrays of speakers. Similarly, mid-air haptics is created by focusing the pressure wave on the palm of the user. Ultrahaptics is our haptic feedback system that uses acoustic radiation pressure to create tactile stimulations in multiple locations of the user’s hand. This feedback is created in mid-air – so users don’t have to touch or hold any device to experience it. Recently, we have begun exploring the design and implementation of reconfigurable acoustic metamaterials that augment phased arrays to create complex sound fields. In my talk, I will present some of our recent projects on these topics.
Speaker Bio: Sriram Subramanian is a Professor of Informatics at the University of Sussex (UK) where he leads a research group on designing and implementing novel interactive systems. Specifically, his group looks at engineering wave-fronts to create novel user-interfaces. In 2018, he was named a Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) Chair in Emerging Technologies to develop novel acoustic interfaces. Before joining Sussex, he was a Professor of Human-computer Interaction at the University of Bristol (till July 2015) and prior to this a senior scientist at Philips Research Labs in the Netherlands. Sriram is also the co-founder of Ultrahaptics a spin-out company that aims to commercialise the mid-air haptics enabled by his research. In 2018, Ultrahaptics won the Queens award for enterprise and in 2019 they acquired Leap Motion Inc.