Effects of Different Hand-Grounding Locations on Haptic Performance With a Wearable Kinesthetic Haptic Device

Grounding of kinesthetic feedback against a user's hand can increase the portability and wearability of a haptic device. However, the effects of different hand-grounding locations on haptic perception of a user are unknown. In this letter, we investigate the effects of three different hand-grounding locations-back of the hand, proximal phalanx of the index finger, and middle phalanx of the index finger-on haptic perception using a newly designed wearable haptic device. The novel device can provide kinesthetic feedback to the user's index finger in two directions: along the finger-axis and in the finger's flexion-extension movement direction. We measure users' haptic perception for each grounding location through a psychophysical experiment for each of the two feedback directions. Results show that among the studied locations, grounding at proximal phalanx has a smaller average just noticeable difference for both feedback directions, indicating a more sensitive haptic perception. The realism of the haptic feedback, based on user ratings, was the highest with grounding at the middle phalanx for feedback along the finger axis, and at the proximal phalanx for feedback in the flexion-extension direction. Users identified the haptic feedback as most comfortable with grounding at the back of the hand for feedback along the finger axis and at the proximal phalanx for feedback in the flexion-extension direction. These findings show that the choice of grounding location has a significant impact on the user's haptic perception and qualitative experience. The results provide insights for designing next-generation wearable hand-grounded kinesthetic devices to achieve better haptic performance and user experience in virtual reality and teleoperated robotic applications.

Proceedings of Third Workshop on Robots and Sensors integration in future rescue INformation system

This is the proceedings of the third workshop on Robots and Sensors integration in future rescue INformation system (ROSIN 2013)

Teleoperation System Using Past Image Records Considering Narrow Communication Band

Teleoperation is necessary when the robot is applied to real missions, for example surveillance, search and rescue. We proposed teleoperation system using past image records (SPIR). SPIR virtually generates the bird's-eye view image by overlaying the CG model of the robot at the corresponding current position on the background image which is captured from the camera mounted on the robot at a past time. The problem for SPIR is that the communication bandwidth is often narrow in some teleoperation tasks. In this case, the candidates of background image of SPIR are few and the position of the robot is often delayed. In this study, we propose zoom function for insufficiency of candidates of the background image and additional interpolation lines for the delay of the position data of the robot. To evaluate proposed system, an outdoor experiments are carried out. The outdoor experiment is conducted on a training course of a driving school.