Vibro-tactile feedback for VR systems

Today, in production engineering we have already taken into usage complex virtual representations of the manufacturing environment were we can program, simulate, analyse and optimise key performances. Such systems are mainly working through keyboard/mouse input while user feedback normally are direct visual through computer screen and text files. Such communication only relays on a limited spectre of our senses and the keyboard/mouse/screen systems cannot be said to be very human friendly, especially when the operator is expected to operate "out of office" in a unstructured, maybe dangerous or dirty, environment. In the near future we expect to see more advanced input/output devices like motion capturing and speech input systems while feedback will not be visual alone but include several other human senses. Combinatorial sensory information, interpreted by the human brain, becomes very handy when a stand alone sense is not enough to interpret the actual situation. Imitation of senses and feedback from virtual reality environments always meant a great problem. Realization of two (sight and hearing) out of the five human senses is indispensable. Simulation of these two senses is not complex issue; on the contrary the other three are quite challenging. This paper describes the development of a vibro-tactile glove which can provide sensory feedback from a virtual environment, either as a stand alone system but most important in combination with sight and audio feedback systems. Instead of implementing real force feedback, the focus is on tactile sensing, as an alternative way of achieving the same feedback. The glove contains six vibration motors on different locations on the hand. These locations include all five fingers, and the palm. Communication with the glove is wireless, enabling free movement for the user. The system is low cost and very small sized which allows for combining it with advanced input devices like a motion capturing suit.