Multi-fingered tactile feedback from virtual and remote environments

This paper outlines a novel approach of displaying multi-fingered tactile feedback information from remote and virtual environments. Miniature tactile fingertip modules are developed allowing multi-fingered integration into an already existing hand force exoskeleton for display of combined tactile and kinesthetic feedback. The tactile feedback comprises generation of both, vibrotactile and thermal stimuli directly at the operator's fingertip where a multitude of human tactile receptors are located. The proposed parallel configuration of integrated vibration and heat display with combined kinesthetic feedback actuators considers a novel approach towards the generation of holistic haptic sensations. Corresponding tactile rendering algorithms are presented computing realistic tactile stimuli of object properties from either remote real or virtual environments. Moreover the article discusses the design of a developed thermal and texture sensor with corresponding data processing algorithms for online identification of tactile object properties in a remote environment. The new quality of generated multi-fingered tactile feedback was evaluated in several experiments enabling a human operator performing exploratory tasks.