Hyunchul Cho

A universal remote control with haptic interface for customer electronic devices

We introduce a new universal remote control that gives easy-to-control interface for home devices such as TV, video/audio player, room lighting and temperature control. In order to use conventional remote controls, people need to understand complex instruction manuals and remember functions assigned to buttons. In addition, the button-based control does not provide an intuitive interface so the user presses a button several times to browse information and has difficulty in searching the right button among many buttons. Our universal remote control addresses these limitations by using a touch screen, a force-feedback dial knob, and two buttons instead of many buttons. We suggest an example scenario to interact with a conventional TV set, room lighting, and air conditioner using our universal remote control. The result of a user study to evaluate the usability of the device shows that the universal remote control is very efficient and intuitive interface to control customer electronics devices.

Design of haptic interface for brickout game

This paper introduces a haptic interface for brick games. Conventionally the game user uses mouse or keyboard to play the brick game. However, these input devices do not provide intuitive interface for the game and any tactile feedback to the user. We use a haptic dial to add tactile feedback to enhance game effects in addition to visual and sound effects. The user changes the position of the paddle by spinning the dial knob and feels various tactile feedbacks according to the game context. Tactile feedbacks include friction, jog dial, barrier, detent, and any combinations of these effects which are programmed based on the amount, frequency, and direction of torque along the rotational path. These effects are used as either penalties or useful tools. The proposed haptic dial interface makes the game more fun and gives a very intuitive interface to the game user.

A tangible user interface with multimodal feedback

Tangible user interface allows the user to manipulate digital information intuitively through physical things which are connected to digital contents spatially and computationally. It takes advantage of human ability to manipulate delicate objects precisely. In this paper, we present a novel tangible user interface, SmartPuck system, which consists of a PDP-based table display, SmartPuck having a built-in actuated wheel and button for the physical interactions, and a sensing module to track the position of SmartPuck. Unlike passive physical things in the previous systems, SmartPuck has built-in sensors and actuator providing multimodal feedback such as visual feedback by LEDs, auditory feedback by a speaker, and haptic feedback by an actuated wheel. It gives a feeling as if the user works with physical object. We introduce new tangible menus to control digital contents just as we interact with physical devices. In addition, this system is used to navigate geographical information in Google Earth program.

An universal remote controller with haptic interface for home devices

We introduce a new universal remote controller that gives easy-to-control interface for home devices such as TV, video/audio player, room lighting and temperature control. In order to use a conventional remote controller, one should study an instruction manual and remember function for each button. In addition, the remote controller does not provide an intuitive interface so the user has difficulty in searching the right button among a lot of small buttons. Our remote controller addresses these limitations by using a touch screen, a force-feedback dial knob, and a single button instead of many buttons. We suggest an example scenario to interact with a conventional TV set using our remote controller.

An electronic aid for a visually impaired person using an ultrasonic sensor

This paper presents an electronic device, called SmartWand, which can help a visually impaired person walk around more safely. Attached to a conventional white cane, the SmartWand detects obstacles that cannot be detected by a traditional cane and gives warnings in the forms of vibration or sound. In addition to obstacle detection, it also provides functions to detect colors of objects and the brightness of surroundings.

Registration accuracy enhancement of a surgical navigation system for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: A phantom and cadaveric study

BACKGROUND Recently, surgical navigation systems have been widely used to improve the results of various orthopaedic surgeries. However, surgical navigation has not been successful in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, owing to its inaccuracy and inconvenience. This study investigated the registration of preoperative and intraoperative data, which are the key components in improving accuracy of the navigation system. METHODS An accurate registration method was proposed using new optical tracking markers and landmark retake. A surgical planning and navigation system for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction was developed and implemented. The accuracy of the proposed system has been evaluated using phantoms and eight cadaveric knees. The present study investigated only the registration accuracy excluding the errors of optical tracking hardware and surgeon. RESULTS The target registration errors of femoral tunnelling for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in phantoms were found to be 0.24±0.03mm and 0.19±0.10° for the tunnel entry position and tunnel direction, respectively. The target registration errors measured using cadavers were 0.9mm and 1.94°, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The preclinical experimental results showed that the proposed methods enhanced the registration accuracy of the developed system. As the system becomes more accurate, surgeons could more precisely position and orient the femoral and tibial tunnels to their original anatomical locations.

A smart movie recommendation system

We propose a movie recommendation system based on genre correlations. We modify the previous algorithm; we use a list of movies as input instead of genre combinations. We implement a new recommendation algorithm as Android application with additional functions. By combining with existing web services such as Google Movie Showtimes and Open APIs, our system can recommend movies playing in cinemas currently and show the detailed information of movies. Location-based function is also implemented. We utilize GPS information of mobile device and web service provided by Google Maps for recommending suitable cinemas for users with mobile devices.

Needle insertion simulator with haptic feedback

We introduce a novel injection simulator with haptic feedback which provides realistic physical experience to the medical user. Needle insertion requires very dexterous hands-on skills and fast and appropriate response to avoid dangerous situations for patients. In order to train the injection operation, the proposed injection simulator has been designed to generate delicate force feedback to simulate the needle penetration into various tissues such as skin, muscle, and blood vessels. We have developed and evaluated the proposed simulator with medical doctors and realized that the system offers very realistic haptic feedback with dynamic visual feedback.

Enhanced hand rehabilitation using a haptic interface

This paper proposes a hand rehabilitation system based on a 1-DOF haptic handle. The system is designed to improve hand strength and movement and provides haptic feedback incorporating visual games. A haptic interface enhances the clinical effect and makes it more fun compared to previous systems. Various haptic effects can be programmed corresponding to the game scenario. Though our target consumers are stroke patients, the elderly can also practice hand functions of ADL to develop cognitive ability and muscular strength.

Deformable mesh simulation for virtual laparoscopic cholecystectomy training

Virtual simulation of laparoscopic surgery is getting attention for training novice surgeons and medical residents for practice. Virtual surgical simulation has many advantages because it can provide users with a safe environment without animal or patient subjects. Although several solutions are available in the market, there are no reported studies with detailed technical descriptions of the virtual simulation of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal surgery), one of the major surgeries performed using laparoscopic surgical procedures. Here, we present a realistic laparoscopic cholecystectomy training simulator. The system was developed by applying state-of-the-art computer graphical technologies using an open source library and proposing a new method of deformable mesh carving. The deformable mesh carving is a volume-based method using potential fields and hexahedral finite element method. In this paper, we describe the detailed techniques used to realize the laparoscopic cholecystectomy simulation. The experimental and user study results prove that the presented system simulates the cholecystectomy procedures in real time with high degree of realism and fidelity.