Experimental data for "An artificial potential field approach for velocity control and object manipulation on shape displays"

Shape displays, devices which can actively alter their surface topology, have promising applications for human-robot-collaboration, haptic interaction, and manufacturing. However, these use-cases are limited due to existing challenges in dynamic object control on the shape display surface. This dataset provides experimental data supporting a general-purpose, extendable potential field algorithm that is used to control velocity and object motion on shape display surfaces. The dataset includes ball position and velocity data over time for multiple trials of experiments. The experiments include algorithmic driving of ball motion in: (i) a uniform velocity field with trials at different velocity magnitudes and directions, (ii) trial results of positional control of the ball, (iii) trial results of position control of the ball in the presence of an obstacle, (iv) trial results of trajectory control of the ball being driven with a limit cycle velocity field, and (v) trial results of formation control with a three-agent system forming an equilateral triangle formation.