Abstract:
This paper presents the development and human
interaction evaluation of a Bowden cable based wearable fingertip
tactile display. This device is designed to be used in the field
of virtual reality and teleoperation to render different types of
tactile sensations such as grip force, slipping, roughness and
softness through delivering normal force, skin stretch, tangential
movement and vibration indication to the user. This paper
evaluates the proposed device’s capability in delivering individual
taxel actuation through user testing. A four taxel actuation system
fixed to a mild steel skeleton is covered in silicone rubber to
ensure wearer comfort. A secondary mechanism is developed to
provide sliding and lateral skin stretch sensation to the user.
In addition, an 8 mm diameter piezo vibration motor is used
to deliver vibration to indicate slipping to the user. The force
feedback system consist of four independently operable taxels
positioned at 2mm center to center distance on the fingertip.
Each taxel was actuated via a Bowden cable connected to a
geared DC motor, mounted on a lower arm worn sleeve. A
taxel discrimination experiment was done to validate human
discrimination ability of each taxel and the results showed that
a healthy human can distinguish each taxel with 87.45 % mean
accuracy.
