The Role of Haptic Technology in the Development of Aesthetic Driven Products

Abstract

This paper presents a haptic system the authors have developed for shape exploration in the field of industrial design. The system consists of a novel haptic-based digital technology, allowing designers to add the tactile experience to the visual one. The haptic interface developed allows designers to see and haptically feel through free hand motions an object surface during its creation and evolution. The system closes the loop of shape modification and its subsequent evaluation: It is possible to evaluate the “what if” related to a new product shape, applying the modification and comparing the solutions more and more times, and generate and maintain different versions. That improves the level of interaction of designers with the digital models, exploits their skills, and shortens the product development life cycle.