Haptic Concert With 200 Haptic LED Braceets

LED bracelets at live shows have taken the world by storm, with concerts and sports experiences at stadiums being converted to huge dazzling visual spectacles. With my interest in haptics and music, I wondered if it was possible to add the sense of touch to these LED bracelets to allow audiences to simultaneously feel the music.

In May 2023, I got in touch with the creative director of Houston's famous White Oak Music Hall to see if he was interested in showcasing this technology at his venue. He immediately agreed and we decided to demo it at an 80's disco night concert two months later in June.

Constructing the bracelets

We learned that LED bracelets work on RF technology and were really cheap to source (~ $3 per bracelet). Manufacturers such as rfbracelet sell these units alongside a 433/915 MHz RF transmitter that can control these devices over half a mile away. Opening one of these devices, we see that they have 2 microcontrollers - one for RF and one for the LED as seen below. Since eccentric rotating mass actuators work on the same principle of amplitude modulation as LEDs, we decided to use the LED driver to drive the actuator and stack up the two chips to also enable the LED functionality.

Connecting the RF transmitter to a DMX512 controller allowed us to control both haptics and LEDs on all bracelets in its range, allowing easy show programmability. We proceeded to build 200 units to test at the concert.

The Concert

We distributed the bracelets at the doors. Even though audiences weren't informed prior to the show, they enthusiastically accepted the bracelets. I had a big aha moment when about 50 people had come in. I had master control over all bracelets at the show using the controller. When the lights changed, I turned all of them on. I heard an audible gasp from the concert hall. It really felt like the sound of people experiencing something new.

For the concert, we programmed the haptics and lights to match the rhythm and beat of the music, alongside other custom patterns I could trigger as needed.

I didn't positive feedback as plenty of things had gone wrong - batteries died early, some devices had loose wiring and bracelets did not fit everyone's wrist too well. But based on speaking to several customers and over 90 feedback forms, the demo was a success.

The Future

Haptics has a massive future in augmented entertainment experiences, whether at home or at live shows. The gaming industry has figured it out with controllers. Disney has tried at at their theme parks with the Magicband+ bracelet. Companies such as bHaptics and Woojer are trying it with haptic vests for gaming and entertainment.

Similar to how LED technology revolutionized live shows and entertainment, digital touch technology will one day do the same.