The word haptic, from the Greek haptikos, means “tactile, pertaining to the sense of touch.” Haptic technologies (also kinaesthetic communication or 3D touch) can enrich user interfaces, creating an experience of touch by applying forces, vibrations, or motions to the user.
These technologies can allow users of smartphones to receive tactile feedback from their devices. They can also be used to control virtual objects in a simulation and to enhance remote control of machines and devices. Haptic devices may also incorporate tactile sensors that measure forces exerted by the user on the interface. Simple haptic devices are common in the form of game controllers, joysticks, and steering wheels.
Haptic technology is an unsung hero of our modern electronics experience. Almost any consumer device you interact with today, be it your smartphone, smartwatch, or video game controller features some form of haptic actuation to improve the user experience and deepen immersion.
Unfortunately, as it turns out, haptic applications are notoriously difficult to develop solutions for. Haptics are tactile and personal, which makes them hard to quantify and methodically design. While there is some science behind the field, a lot of haptic solution design requires a process of trial and error accompanied by a lot of subjectivity.
The state of the industry
Developing haptics is made even harder by the lack of development tools available to designers. There are a handful of different types of haptic actuators, dozens of brands that make each type, and even more companies that produce the supporting circuitry surrounding haptics.
Haptic developments require a confluence of choosing the right motor, the right driver, and developing the control scheme that creates the natural and intuitive tactile sensations you desire. With few solutions available to support development, the result is that progressing a haptic solution to market takes much longer than it should. This stifles growth and limits the industry severely, which is problematic for a technology as ubiquitous as haptics.
Introducing TITAN Core
At TITAN Haptics, we are addressing this challenge with the introduction of our TITAN Core haptic development kit.
TITAN Core is a compact haptics development board that also doubles as a production-ready module. This solution consists of a fully contained haptics PCB core and ESP32 chipset designed to make haptics integration easier and more seamless. Each Core offers three discrete haptics channels, a 3W dual-channel Class D amplifier + Dual H-Bridge, and onboard power management with LiPo charging via USB-C. To make things even easier, we also offer Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, along with a plethora of GPIO such as 2 DACs, 2 ADCs, and SPI, I2C, and serial communication support.
With TITAN Core, we are aiming to provide haptic designers with the full hardware solution they need to test and evaluate any haptic solution they are developing. The product is totally motor agnostic, so you can test motors from our company or from anyone else. The important thing to us is that people can develop high-definition haptic solutions faster and easier than previously possible.
We truly believe that TITAN Core offers the fastest means possible to a full-production haptics solution. Designers can even take the TITAN Core directly into production, making the product a true plug-and-play way of integrating high-definition haptics into their upcoming projects.