An interface composed of a collection of "smart hairs"

Abstract

The smart hair is the basic component of the hairlytop interface, which is a visual/haptic interface patterned with smart hair. The hair is composed of shape memory alloy(s), drive circuit(s), and light sensor(s) capable of controlling their bending. The bending of each smart hair is controlled through the intensity of light from below. The high flexibility in its configuration and unique motion enables us to construct various types of interface. In this paper, we describe details about several prototypes of the hairlytop interface. In addition, we also report experimental results from an evaluation of the accuracy in flex-control of the smart hairs.