PRODUCT OF THE MONTH

NASA Tech Briefs, Aug 2005

Immersion Corp., San Jose, CA, has introduced TouchSense® touch-feedback technology for touchscreens that enables users to perceive that buttons actually depress and release, rather than feeling a flat, hard, unresponsive touchscreen surface. The tactile information conveyed is similar to clicking a computer mouse, pushing a button, or depressing a switch. The technology incorporates actuators, controllers, haptic effect authoring software, and application programming interfaces. When a user touches the screen, an analog signal is sent to the touchscreen controller, which supplies information on the screen location where contact was made. The information is sent to the host application, which commands the haptic controller to play a specific vibro-tactile effect corresponding to the user's selection. The technology can be used with any type of touchscreen, including capacitive, infrared, resistive, and surface acoustic wave, in applications such as automotive, medical simulation equipment, rotary controls, and human-machine interfaces.

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Amusement Parks Double as NASA Labs

The Exploration Outreach and Education project at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH, uses amusement park rides such as roller coasters to teach students about the physics of spaceflight. The Serial Thriller, a suspended looping coaster at Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom in Aurora, OH, is just one of the gravity-defying rides used in the project.

"Students really get into experiments when an amusement park is the laboratory," said project manager Richard DeLombard of NASA Glenn. "It makes physics real to them." The sensation students felt as the roller coaster plummeted down the first hill is similar to what astronauts feel as the space shuttle orbits the Earth.

Roller coasters cause a series of lowand high-gravity sensations that mimic the freefall and acceleration of spacecraft. As a coaster reaches the bottom of a hill, the students feel their bodies pressing into the seats. "That's the sensation of gravity and the acceleration of the roller coaster car catching them to start up the next hill," explained DeLombard. Similarly, acceleration during a space shuttle launch makes astronauts feel two to three times heavier than they are.

Other rides, such as Cedar Point's Power Tower, plunge vertically from high in the air. For a brief period while the passenger cars are in freefall, gravity seems to be suspended, causing passengers to rise out of their seats. Because they and the car are falling at the same rate, the passengers' bodies aren't pushing on the seats anymore. The passengers become weightless and actually float inside the car.

"Creating real-world physics labs, where you not only see but also experience the laws of physics, excites students," said David DeFelice, who leads NASA Glenn's community relations activities. "People don't realize that learning can be fun. That's why NASA is working with educators to turn amusement parks into effective outdoor classrooms."

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