Haptic Virtual Prototyping of Buttons

The design of any physical product involves prototyping. Building physical prototypes of the products can be expensive and time consuming. An alternate to physical prototyping is haptic virtual prototyping, which simulates the product using a computer and a haptic device. A haptic device is one that produces the forces similar to that of the product, giving the user a realistic feel of the product. Since the feel of a product plays a significant role in its commercial success, the importance of haptic virtual prototyping as a design tool is increasing. This paper discusses the haptic simulation of a push button on a low cost and commercially available haptic device called Novint Falcon.  Two different models were created – the first one was a simple push button, and the second was an on/off click button. The parameters of the two models were selected such that they have the most accurate tactile response or feel of the product. The two models successfully simulated the feel of the buttons, and it was found that haptic virtual prototyping of buttons is achievable using a low cost haptic interaction system.