Modeling Human Difference Threshold in Perceiving Mechanical Properties From Force

We discuss an extension of the basic principles underlying the human haptic just noticeable difference (JND) in perceiving a manipulator's mechanical properties from force feedback. Two cases are studied: 1) the JND in perceiving the stiffness of manipulators with various masses; 2) the JND in perceiving the damping of a combined mass-spring...

Communication via warm haptic interfaces does not increase social warmth

Affective haptic interfaces are designed to influence one’s emotional and physiological state via the sense of touch, and may be applied as communication media to increase the sense of closeness. Recent research suggests that stimulation with physical warmth can enhance this interpersonal closeness: a physical-social warmth link. It is often...

Obstacle detection display for visually impaired Coding of direction distance and height on a vibrotactile waist band

Electronic travel aids (ETAs) can potentially increase the safety and comfort of blind users by detecting and displaying obstacles outside the range of the white cane. In a series of experiments, we aim to balance the amount of information displayed and the comprehensibility of the information taking into account the risk of information overload...

Active deceleration support in car following

A haptic gas pedal feedback system is developed that provides car-following information via haptic cues from the gas pedal. During normal car-following situations, the haptic feedback (HF) cues were sufficient to reduce control activity and improve car-following performance. However, in more critical following situations, drivers use the brake...

The multi-dimensional nature of encoding tactile and haptic interactions: From psychophysics to design guidelines

Designers are very well aware of the multi-dimensionality of visual stimuli and extensively use dimensions such as color, form and contrast to encode information. An analogous multi-dimensionality applies to haptic and tactile stimuli. Based on the fact that the human visual system only has two receptor types (cones and rods) while the sense of...

Ergonomics of tactile and haptic interactions

The area of tactile and haptic interactions has produced a number of exemplar systems and an even greater number of research papers. The time has come to systematize the knowledge that has been gained in order to produce guidance. The Ergonomics of Tactile and Haptic Interactions symposium provides an analysis of some of the complexities of...

Validation of principles for tactile navigation displays

Access to navigation information rapidly becomes standard in many situations, for example through GPS receivers and collision avoidance systems in cars. However, perceiving and processing the information may result in overloading the userÆs visual sense and cognitive resources. Intuitive navigation information presentation concepts using the...

Vibrotactile spatial acuity on the torso: Effects of location and timingparameters

The processing of spatio-temporal vibrotactile patterns by the torso was examined in two experiments. The first investigated the spatial acuity as function of location on the torso. A uniform acuity between 2 and 3 cm was found, except on the body midline where acuity was about 1 cm. This favorable effect was hypothesized to be caused by...

Cross-modal visual and vibrotactile tracking

The present study investigates tracking performance with tactile and/or visual presentation of target and cursor. The tactile display consisted of vibrators in a horizontal linear array on the torso, the visual display consisted of dots projected on a horizontal plane surrounding the observer. Both displays presented qualitatively identical...