Tactons: structured tactile messages for non-visual information display

Tactile displays are now becoming available in a form that can be easily used in a user interface. This paper describes a new form of tactile output. Tactons, or tactile icons, are structured, abstract messages that can be used to communicate messages non-visually. A range of different parameters can be used for Tacton construction including: frequency, amplitude and duration of a tactile pulse, plus other parameters such as rhythm and location. Tactons have the potential to improve interaction in a range of different areas, particularly where the visual display is overloaded, limited in size or not available, such as interfaces for blind people or in mobile and wearable devices. This paper describes Tactons, the parameters used to construct them and some possible ways to design them. Examples of where Tactons might prove useful in user interfaces are given

Prevalence of haptic feedback in robot-mediated surgery : a systematic review of literature

© 2017 Springer-Verlag. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Journal of Robotic Surgery. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11701-017-0763-4With the successful uptake and inclusion of robotic systems in minimally invasive surgery and with the increasing application of robotic surgery (RS) in numerous surgical specialities worldwide, there is now a need to develop and enhance the technology further. One such improvement is the implementation and amalgamation of haptic feedback technology into RS which will permit the operating surgeon on the console to receive haptic information on the type of tissue being operated on. The main advantage of using this is to allow the operating surgeon to feel and control the amount of force applied to different tissues during surgery thus minimising the risk of tissue damage due to both the direct and indirect effects of excessive tissue force or tension being applied during RS. We performed a two-rater systematic review to identify the latest developments and potential avenues of improving technology in the application and implementation of haptic feedback technology to the operating surgeon on the console during RS. This review provides a summary of technological enhancements in RS, considering different stages of work, from proof of concept to cadaver tissue testing, surgery in animals, and finally real implementation in surgical practice. We identify that at the time of this review, while there is a unanimous agreement regarding need for haptic and tactile feedback, there are no solutions or products available that address this need. There is a scope and need for new developments in haptic augmentation for robot-mediated surgery with the aim of improving patient care and robotic surgical technology further.Peer reviewe

Wearable haptic systems for the fingertip and the hand: taxonomy, review and perspectives

In the last decade, we have witnessed a drastic change in the form factor of audio and vision technologies, from heavy and grounded machines to lightweight devices that naturally fit our bodies. However, only recently, haptic systems have started to be designed with wearability in mind. The wearability of haptic systems enables novel forms of communication, cooperation, and integration between humans and machines. Wearable haptic interfaces are capable of communicating with the human wearers during their interaction with the environment they share, in a natural and yet private way. This paper presents a taxonomy and review of wearable haptic systems for the fingertip and the hand, focusing on those systems directly addressing wearability challenges. The paper also discusses the main technological and design challenges for the development of wearable haptic interfaces, and it reports on the future perspectives of the field. Finally, the paper includes two tables summarizing the characteristics and features of the most representative wearable haptic systems for the fingertip and the hand

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationVirtual environments provide a consistent and relatively inexpensive method of training individuals. They often include haptic feedback in the form of forces applied to a manipulandum or thimble to provide a more immersive and educational experience. However, the limited haptic feedback provided in these systems tends to be restrictive and frustrating to use. Providing tactile feedback in addition to this kinesthetic feedback can enhance the user's ability to manipulate and interact with virtual objects while providing a greater level of immersion. This dissertation advances the state-of-the-art by providing a better understanding of tactile feedback and advancing combined tactilekinesthetic systems. The tactile feedback described within this dissertation is provided by a finger-mounted device called the contact location display (CLD). Rather than displaying the entire contact surface, the device displays (feeds back) information only about the center of contact between the user's finger and a virtual surface. In prior work, the CLD used specialized two-dimensional environments to provide smooth tactile feedback. Using polygonal environments would greatly enhance the device's usefulness. However, the surface discontinuities created by the facets on these models are rendered through the CLD, regardless of traditional force shading algorithms. To address this issue, a haptic shading algorithm was developed to provide smooth tactile and kinesthetic interaction with general polygonal models. Two experiments were used to evaluate the shading algorithm. iv To better understand the design requirements of tactile devices, three separate experiments were run to evaluate the perception thresholds for cue localization, backlash, and system delay. These experiments establish quantitative design criteria for tactile devices. These results can serve as the maximum (i.e., most demanding) device specifications for tactile-kinesthetic haptic systems where the user experiences tactile feedback as a function of his/her limb motions. Lastly, a revision of the CLD was constructed and evaluated. By taking the newly evaluated design criteria into account, the CLD device became smaller and lighter weight, while providing a full two degree-of-freedom workspace that covers the bottom hemisphere of the finger. Two simple manipulation experiments were used to evaluate the new CLD device

Toward tactilely transparent gloves: Collocated slip sensing and vibrotactile actuation

Tactile information plays a critical role in the human ability to manipulate objects with one\u27s hands. Many environments require the use of protective gloves that diminish essential tactile feedback. Under these circumstances, seemingly simple tasks such as picking up an object can become very difficult. This paper introduces the SlipGlove, a novel device that uses an advanced sensing and actuation system to return this vital tactile information to the user. Our SlipGlove prototypes focus on providing tactile cues associated with slip between the glove and a contact surface. Relative motion is sensed using optical mouse sensors embedded in the glove\u27s surface. This information is conveyed to the wearer via miniature vibration motors placed inside the glove against the wearer\u27s skin. The collocation of slip sensing and tactile feedback creates a system that is natural and intuitive to use. We report results from a human subject study demonstrating that the SlipGlove allows the wearer to approach the capabilities of bare skin in detecting and reacting to fingertip slip. Users of the SlipGlove also had significantly faster and more consistent reaction to fingertip slip when compared to a traditional glove design. The SlipGlove technology allows us to enhance human perception when interacting with real environments and move toward the goal of a tactilely transparent glove

Delivering Expressive And Personalized Fingertip Tactile Cues

Wearable haptic devices have seen growing interest in recent years, but providing realistic tactile feedback is not a challenge that is soon to be solved. Daily interactions with physical objects elicit complex sensations at the fingertips. Furthermore, human fingertips exhibit a broad range of physical dimensions and perceptive abilities, adding increased complexity to the task of simulating haptic interactions in a compelling manner. However, as the applications of wearable haptic feedback grow, concerns of wearability and generalizability often persuade tactile device designers to simplify the complexities associated with rendering realistic haptic sensations. As such, wearable devices tend to be optimized for particular uses and average users, rendering only the most salient dimensions of tactile feedback for a given task and assuming all users interpret the feedback in a similar fashion. We propose that providing more realistic haptic feedback will require in-depth examinations of higher-dimensional tactile cues and personalization of these cues for individual users. In this thesis, we aim to provide hardware and software-based solutions for rendering more expressive and personalized tactile cues to the fingertip. We first explore the idea of rendering six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) tactile fingertip feedback via a wearable device, such that any possible fingertip interaction with a flat surface can be simulated. We highlight the potential of parallel continuum manipulators (PCMs) to meet the requirements of such a device, and we refine the design of a PCM for providing fingertip tactile cues. We construct a manually actuated prototype to validate the concept, and then continue to develop a motorized version, named the Fingertip Puppeteer, or Fuppeteer for short. Various error reduction techniques are presented, and the resulting device is evaluated by analyzing system responses to step inputs, measuring forces rendered to a biomimetic finger sensor, and comparing intended sensations to perceived sensations of twenty-four participants in a human-subject study. Once the functionality of the Fuppeteer is validated, we begin to explore how the device can be used to broaden our understanding of higher-dimensional tactile feedback. One such application is using the 6-DOF device to simulate different lower-dimensional devices. We evaluate 1-, 3-, and 6-DOF tactile feedback during shape discrimination and mass discrimination in a virtual environment, also comparing to interactions with real objects. Results from 20 naive study participants show that higher-dimensional tactile feedback may indeed allow completion of a wider range of virtual tasks, but that feedback dimensionality surprisingly does not greatly affect the exploratory techniques employed by the user. To address alternative approaches to improving tactile rendering in scenarios where low-dimensional tactile feedback is appropriate, we then explore the idea of personalizing feedback for a particular user. We present two generalizable software-based approaches to personalize an existing data-driven haptic rendering algorithm for fingertips of different sizes. We evaluate our algorithms in the rendering of pre-recorded tactile sensations onto rubber casts of six different fingertips as well as onto the real fingertips of 13 human participants, all via a 3-DOF wearable device. Results show that both personalization approaches significantly reduced force error magnitudes and improved realism ratings

Haptic wearables as sensory replacement, sensory augmentation and trainer - a review

Sensory impairments decrease quality of life and can slow or hinder rehabilitation. Small, computationally powerful electronics have enabled the recent development of wearable systems aimed to improve function for individuals with sensory impairments. The purpose of this review is to synthesize current haptic wearable research for clinical applications involving sensory impairments. We define haptic wearables as untethered, ungrounded body worn devices that interact with skin directly or through clothing and can be used in natural environments outside a laboratory. Results of this review are categorized by degree of sensory impairment. Total impairment, such as in an amputee, blind, or deaf individual, involves haptics acting as sensory replacement; partial impairment, as is common in rehabilitation, involves haptics as sensory augmentation; and no impairment involves haptics as trainer. This review found that wearable haptic devices improved function for a variety of clinical applications including: rehabilitation, prosthetics, vestibular loss, osteoarthritis, vision loss and hearing loss. Future haptic wearables development should focus on clinical needs, intuitive and multimodal haptic displays, low energy demands, and biomechanical compliance for long-term usage

Haptics Rendering and Applications

There has been significant progress in haptic technologies but the incorporation of haptics into virtual environments is still in its infancy. A wide range of the new society's human activities including communication, education, art, entertainment, commerce and science would forever change if we learned how to capture, manipulate and reproduce haptic sensory stimuli that are nearly indistinguishable from reality. For the field to move forward, many commercial and technological barriers need to be overcome. By rendering how objects feel through haptic technology, we communicate information that might reflect a desire to speak a physically- based language that has never been explored before. Due to constant improvement in haptics technology and increasing levels of research into and development of haptics-related algorithms, protocols and devices, there is a belief that haptics technology has a promising future