TI’s advanced haptic driver makes adding tactile feedback to consumer and industrial products easy

DALLAS (April 2, 2013) – Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NASDAQ: TXN) today introduced a haptic driver that makes it easy to add realistic tactile feedback effects to consumer and industrial products, such as smartphones, tablets, ebooks, refrigerators, microwave ovens and washing machines. The DRV2605 is the only eccentric rotating mass actuator (ERM) and linear resonant actuator (LRA) haptic driver pre-loaded with a library of 123 distinct haptic effects designed and licensed by Immersion, the leading developer and licensor of touch feedback technology. The DRV2605 also features a smart loop architecture that reduces startup and braking time by half, delivers twice the vibration strength, and consumes 50-percent less power to extend battery life, compared to competitive solutions. Watch a video demonstration at www.ti.com/drv2605-prv. To order samples, visit www.ti.com/haptics-pr.

“Licensing Immersion’s haptic effects library for the DRV2605 provides customers the convenience of one-stop shopping and rapid time-to-market,” said Shreharsha Rao, manager for Haptics Products at Texas Instruments. “In addition, the DRV2605’s smart loop architecture delivers the high performance consumer designers need to employ haptics in their products. And designers of household appliances can confidently implement capacitive touch buttons with haptics, in place of mechanical buttons, to boost reliability and extend button life.”

Key features and benefits of the DRV2605

Reduced system complexity: The pre-loaded Immersion haptic effects library offers a range of distinct and differentiated tactile effects for touch screen feedback, giving users a more satisfying and realistic experience.
Audio-to-haptics mode: Automatically converts audio from music, movies or games into haptic effects. The audio mode adds a vibrating bass enhancement that allows users to feel and fully experience audio and video content.
Smart loop architecture: Offers automatic overdriving and braking for ERMs and LRAs, which simplifies software programming and reduces startup and braking time by 50 percent. Automatic resonance tracking for the LRA delivers twice the vibration force at half the power of competitive solutions. In addition, the automatic actuator diagnostics and level tracking feature delivers consistent acceleration over a range of environmental conditions.
Smallest solution size: At 1.5-mm by 1.5-mm, the DRV2605 offers designers the industry’s smallest package for space-constrained portable applications.
Complete touch solution: The DRV2605 combines with any member of TI’s touch screen controller family to create a complete touch screen solution.

The DRV2605 joins the DRV2604 ERM/LRA haptic driver, which shares the same core and industry-leading performance and power-saving features, minus the audio-to-haptics mode and Immersion haptic effects library.

Tools and support

Evaluation modules (EVMs) are available for the DRV2605 and DRV2604, each for a suggested retail price of US$99. The EVMs are supplied with user guides and include a fully programmable MSP430G2553 Value Line microcontroller, sample haptic effects and capacitive touch buttons, as well as analog, I²C and PWM digital interfaces for complete standalone and in-system evaluation. The DRV2605 includes an API software driver for the Immersion haptic effects library.

Technical support is available on the Touch Forum in the TI E2E^TMCommunity, where engineers can ask questions and get answers from TI experts.

Availability and pricing

The DRV2605 is available today in a 9-ball, 1.5-mm by 1.5-mm by 0.6-mm WCSP package for a suggested retail price of US$1.60 in 1,000-unit quantities. TheDRV2604 is also available for a suggested retail price of US$1.15 in 1,000-unit quantities.

TI analog for consumer electronics

TI’s broad range of power management and analog signal chain products offers design engineers the high performance, low power and integration they need to create innovative and differentiated consumer electronics. TI is engineering the future with gesture recognition, touch feedback, energy harvesting, wireless power, audio, health technology and more. Learn how TI analog products improve how we live, work and play at www.ti.com/analogconsumer-pr.

Learn more about TI’s haptic driver portfolio by visiting the links below:

Request DRV2605 samples, purchase EVMs: www.ti.com/drv2605s-pr.
Request DRV2604 samples, purchase EVMs: www.ti.com/drv2604s-pr.
Watch a video demonstration: www.ti.com/drv2605-prv.
View a tablet system block diagram: www.ti.com/tabletsbd-pr.
View a refrigerator system block diagram: www.ti.com/refrigsbd-pr.
View a microwave oven system block diagram: www.ti.com/mwsbd-pr.

About Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is a global semiconductor design and manufacturing company that develops analog ICs and embedded processors. By employing the world’s brightest minds, TI creates innovations that shape the future of technology. TI is helping more than 100,000 customers transform the future, today. Learn more at www.ti.com.