Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Quek, Zhan Fan

Titel

Sensory Substitution and Augmentation of Forces and Torques Using Tactile Skin Deformation Feedback

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

2015

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Haptic devices aim to render a realistic sense of touch using kinesthetic and tactile feedback. Kinesthetic feedback provides forces and torques that affect the motion of the user's hand or arm. Tactile feedback stimulates cutaneous receptors in the user's skin. Currently, most commercial haptic devices aim to provide kinesthetic feedback. Although kinesthetic feedback can convey multiple degree-of-freedom information intuitively to the user, this type of feedback can potentially be destabilizing. In contrast, tactile feedback can be used to create the perception of forces and torques without physically imparting these forces and torques to the user, and is not destabilizing. However, conveying multi-degree-of-freedom force and torque information via the tactile channel, in a manner that is intuitive to a human user, can be challenging. This thesis focuses on the design, development, and experimental validation of a class of tactile feedback devices that provide feedback using local fingerpad skin deformation. Fingerpad skin deformation occurs in our daily interaction with objects, feels natural, and can intuitively express many degrees-of-freedom. Skin deformation tactile feedback can provide force and torque information through skin deformation cues on multiple fingers in a manner that is consistent with our interaction with external objects. This thesis describes several novel skin deformation feedback devices and shows in human participant studies that skin deformation feedback influences perception of stiffness. Skin deformation feedback can be used in conjunction with force feedback to improve the perception of stiffness of virtual surfaces, and can also be employed for sensory substitution and augmentation of force and/or torque information during manipulation of objects in virtual environment or teleoperation scenarios. When skin deformation feedback was used as a form of sensory substitution to convey force/torque information, study participants improved task performance compared to when no feedback was given. When skin deformation feedback was used to augment kinesthetic feedback to provide additional force/torque information, subject participants showed improvements in task performance compared to only kinesthetic feedback. The results of this thesis show that skin deformation tactile feedback is intuitive, and can be used to convey force and torque information to substitute, or augment, kinesthetic feedback. Skin deformation tactile feedback is potentially useful in scenarios where the provision of kinesthetic force and/or torque feedback is difficult, notably in teleoperated robot-assisted surgery, space and underwater teleoperation, where kinesthetic feedback may cause system instability.