Physics Engine-Based Whole-Hand Haptic Rendering for Sensorimotor Neurorehabilitation

Whole-hand haptic rendering could lead to more naturalistic and intuitive virtual hand-object interactions, which could be especially beneficial for applications such as sensorimotor robotic neurorehabilitation. However, the majority of previously proposed whole-hand haptic rendering algorithms rely on effortful custom implementations or are...

Touching at a Distance: Digital Intimacies, Haptic Platforms, and the Ethics of Consent

The last decade has seen rise in technologies that allow humans to send and receive intimate touch across long distances. Drawing together platform studies, digital intimacy studies, phenomenology of touch, and ethics of technology, we argue that these new haptic communication devices require specific ethical consideration of consent. The...

Initial contact shapes the perception of friction

Humans efficiently estimate the grip force necessary to lift a variety of objects, including slippery ones. The regulation of grip force starts with the initial contact and takes into account the surface properties, such as friction. This estimation of the frictional strength has been shown to depend critically on cutaneous information....

Feedback of head gestures in audio-haptic remote communication

In this brief, we present the preliminary design of a wearable system able to detect and haptically display head motions of conversation participants. The aim of the system is to allow for remote communication to not have to rely on visual social cues. To demonstrate the design principles of the system, we recorded data from a single...

Haptic exploration improves performance of a laparoscopic training task

Background: Laparoscopy has reduced tactile and visual feedback compared to open surgery. There is increasing evidence that visual and haptic information converge to form a more robust mental representation of an object. We investigated whether tactile exploration of an object prior to executing a laparoscopic action on it improves...

Detection of Friction-Modulated Textures is Limited by Vibrotactile Sensitivity

Modulation of the frictional force of a fingertip sliding over a surface-haptic device can produce compelling sensations of texture and relief. The virtual sensation is particularly apparent and feel as fixed in space if the stimulus is rigorously correlated with the displacement of the finger. While frictional textures tactually resemble...

Visual communication of how fabrics feel

Although product photos and movies are abundantly present in online shopping environments, little is known about how much of the real product experience they capture. While previous studies have shown that movies or interactive imagery give users the impression that these communication forms are more effective, there are no studies addressing...

A MUltidimensional Compliant Decoupled Actuator (MUCDA) for pelvic support during gait

Series Elastic Actuation decouples actuator inertia from the interaction ports and is thus advantageous for force-controlled devices. Parallel or even passive compliance can fulfill a complementary role by compensating for gravitational or periodic inertial forces or by providing passive guidance. Here, these concepts are combined in an...

Using Gaussian mixture models for gesture recognition during haptically guided telemanipulation

Haptic guidance is a promising method for assisting an operator in solving robotic remote operation tasks. It can be implemented through different methods, such as virtual fixtures, where a predefined trajectory is used to generate guidance forces, or interactive guidance, where sensor measurements are used to assist the operator in real-time...

Haptic assistance improves tele-manipulation with two asymmetric slaves

Tele-manipulation of heavy loads typically requires the simultaneous use of two asymmetric slaves: a crane for vertical weight support; and a robot for accurate lateral positioning. The industrial standard prescribes a pair of operators for such tasks (one operator to control each slave), although in principle one operator might control both...

Trust in haptic assistance: Weighting visual and haptic cues based on error history

To effectively interpret and interact with the world, humans weight redundant estimates from different sensory cues to form one coherent, integrated estimate. Recent advancements in physical assistance systems, where guiding forces are computed by an intelligent agent, enable the presentation of augmented cues. It is unknown, however, if cue...