We focused on modeling of soft contacts that facilitate morphological design of soft haptic interfaces, based on the idea of Variable Afferent Network morphology (VANmorph). Through such investigation, we found that soft body plays a crucial role for defining the operation, sensitivity, and dynamics of haptic sensing interfaces. Moreover, by changing the shape or stiffness of the accommodating soft body, embedded sensing elements performed different sensing ability, resulting in selectable sensing functions based on dynamic shape-changing, which promises an exciting research trend.
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We also proposed several novel designs of soft tactile sensing systems based on investigation of VANmorph, for example shape-changing devices inspired by wrinkle morphology with different sensing ability. Especially, a tactile muscularis with simultaneous estimation of multiple contact points on a large-area skin has been proposed.