Butterfly Haptics: A High-Tech Start-Up

Ralph L. Hollis, of Butterfly Haptics, LLC, has dedicated his studies towards magnetic levitation. In this approach, the user interacts with a handle rigidly connected to a hemispherical structure called a flotor that is freely levitated in magnetic fields. Hollis along with Peter Allan, Duke University, created a crude levitation version working on the bench top using a collection of surplus power amplifiers and a US$9,000 digital signal processor plugged into an IBM PC/XT. With the funding from National Science Foundation (NSF), Hollis developed a largemotion range haptic device for virtual environments. Hollis also received an NSF Major Research Instrumentation grant in 2005, which allows him to improve the hardware and software of his haptic prototype design and make it manufacturable at a reasonable cost.