Bayer MaterialScience introduces new applications for ViviTouch™ at Mobile World Congress

The market for mobile gaming is growing at a rapid pace. Users demand mobile devices such as tablet PCs, smartphones and gaming peripherals that offer an improved and more realistic user experience. Bayer MaterialScience recognized this trend early on and developed its innovative ViviTouch™ technology. Haptic signals immerse users in an entirely new, high-definition (HD) world of tactile experience. The technology is based on thin polymer films that stretch and contract in rapid motion, like artificial muscles.

Manufacturers of mobile device and gaming peripherals have an opportunity to differentiate themselves from the competition by offering the best and most realistic user experience. Bayer MaterialScience is presenting the ViviTouch™ technology for new applications at the Mobile World Congress from February 25 to 28, 2013, Stand 6B65, Hall 6.

Until now, mobile devices have offered only a very limited range of uniform vibratory signals. The Bayer technology provides access to a virtually unlimited spectrum of precise and simultaneous tactile effects. Aligned with sound and visual, they take the game experience to a new dimension: A rolling pinball feels different to the hand than a running engine or the human heartbeat.

Smartphone with tactile feedback
"Everyone has heard the recording of a baby's heartbeat in the mother's womb. You can also record the way the pulse actually feels and, thanks to our new technology, have mobile devices relay this feeling," says Dirk Schapeler, head of the ViviTouch™ team. "Tactile sensations from a smartphone will be just as realistic and exciting as hearing and seeing already are today."

While HD television and surround sound are quite common nowadays, there was little technical progress with regard to haptic feedback over the past 15 years. ViviTouch™ by Bayer MaterialScience now closes this gap in consumer electronics. Moreover, users can play longer before having to plug in their devices to charge them: The technology uses up to 70 percent less energy than conventional vibratory motors.

"The theme of this year's Mobile World Congress - 'The New Mobile Horizon' - is equally applicable to our development," says Schapeler. "It is another example of our competence in identifying industry trends at an early stage and developing innovative solutions that echo our corporate mission, 'Science For A Better Life'."

Manufacturers of mobile devices such as tablet PCs, smartphones and gaming peripherals can experience various applications of ViviTouch™ at the Bayer MaterialScience display at the Congress. The company is already working intensively with several device manufacturers and interested in collaborations with additional partners.

A new dimension in sound
In the near future, the technology is also about to change the audiovisual experience and how people experience music, movies and games. Headphones incorporating this new technology provide much more intense, alive audio experience - but without raising the actual volume to ear-damaging levels. Sound comes alive by amplifying how one hears, not just what one hears.

The effect is particularly noticeable with deep tones and sounds events. The technology does not influence the sound waves themselves, but rather functions through direct contact with the scalp and conducts sound through the bones of the skull. "The effect is comparable to a major live concert, where fans can feel the bass tones over their whole body," Schapeler says. "The only difference is that ViviTouch™ does not produce any sound pressure, and the live effect is mobile, you can enjoy it anywhere you go."

Stretchable films
The technology developed by Bayer MaterialScience is based on electroactive polymers (EAP). These plastics have the ability to change shape when a voltage is applied and thus transform electrical energy directly into motion. Due to the way they work, they are often also referred to as "artificial muscles."

To make actuators, electrodes are printed on both sides of a polymer film. The design is similar to that of a plate capacitor: If a voltage is applied to the electrodes, they attract one another, exerting pressure on the non-conductive film in between, which expands over its whole surface. Once the voltage is turned off, the film returns to its original shape. Controlled motions with response times in the millisecond range are the result, which can then be used to simulate HD haptic effects.

Source: Bayer MaterialScience