HapTune: An Open-Source Visual Tool for Designing User-Defined Haptic Signals

HapTune is an open-source visual authoring tool that enables no-code creation, editing, and export of mechanical haptic signals. It supports both low-frequency force profiles and high-frequency vibration waveforms, making it ideal for haptic feedback design, robotic control, and virtual texture rendering.

---

🚀 Features

• 🎛️ Visual, no-code interface for creating and editing haptic signal waveforms

• 🔁 Real-time spline interpolation and smoothing for precise curve shaping

• ⬇️ Downsampling of exisitng dense waveforms to simplify editing and manual tuning

• 🎚️ Multi-frequency vibration synthesis using envelope-based amplitude modulation

• 📊 Live frequency spectrum preview using Fast Fourier transform (FFT)

• 📁 Import and export of waveform data in Excel and CSV formats

• 🔧 Export-ready signals for deployment on various haptic and feedback actuators
  (e.g., vibration motors, thermal modules, force-feedback systems, voice-coil actuators, electro-tactile displays)

• 💡 Designed for researchers, engineers, and UI/UX designers working in haptics and robotics.

---

📦 Installation

🔧 Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• pip

🧪 Create a fresh environment (recommended)

conda create -n haptune_env python=3.8
conda activate haptune_env

📥 Install dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

▶️ Run HapTune

python haptune_main.py

---

📂 Repository Structure

HapTune/
├── .docs/                     # Internal development and authorship logs
├── example_haptic_signals/    # Sample Excel/CSV profiles
├── figs/                      # UI screenshots and plots
├── haptune_main.py            # Main application entry point
├── requirements.txt           # Required Python packages
├── README.md                  # This file
├── LICENSE                    # Apache 2.0 License
├── AUTHORS.md                 # Credits and authorship

---

💡 Use Cases

• Haptic rendering for robotic arms, grippers, or virtual manipulators
• Simulated material textures on touchscreens for surface perception studies
• Designing button click waveforms for realistic tactile feedback in devices
• Creating custom thermal feedback signals for heat flux simulation or transfer experiments
• Prototyping and evaluating force-feedback interfaces in automotive, VR, or assistive systems
• Teaching, research, or experimentation in signal design and perceptual tuning

---

🌍 Citation / Demo Submission

A demonstration of this tool has been accepted at World Haptics Conference (WHC) 2025. Since demonstration papers are not formally archived, a citable archival version has been made available via Zenodo.

This Zenodo record serves as a persistent reference for the demo and associated software.

@misc{awan_2025_16355705,
  author    = {Awan, Mudassir Ibrahim and Jeon, Seokhee},
  title     = {HapTune: An Open-Source Visual Tool for Designing User-Defined Haptic Signals},
  year      = {2025},
  month     = jul,
  publisher = {Zenodo},
  doi       = {10.5281/zenodo.16355705},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16355705}
}

---

📑 License

HapTune is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. See the LICENSE file for full terms.

---

✉️ Contact

For questions, suggestions, or feedback:

Open an issue in the GitHub Issues section of this repository or contat the author Mudassir.