Fingertip skin stretch for communicating direction cues
In this research, we are applying skin stretch / shear feedback to the fingertip and using these stimuli to communicate direction cues. This approach could be used to provide direction cues for navigation or general attention cueing. Initial perception studies have been conducted and show the promise of this type of feedback.
Our initial studies have found several factors to be important for communicating direction via skin stretch at the fingertip. Among the most important are the speed and displacement of skin stretch applied to the fingertip. The below images show the interface used in our initial perception experiments and the results of these experiments
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| The tactor in contact with the finger. The thimble and thimble mount are shown translucent so that the finger and tactor can be seen. The thimble is free to move up and down, but constrained in the plane of tactor motion. | Experimental results, combining data from all stimulus directions. Subjects attempted to identify the direction of skin-stretch stimuli at a range of stimulus speeds and displacements. Identification accuracy rates and corresponding 95% confidence intervals are show in the grid squares. |
Further details of this initial experiment can be found in the below publications (will be posted shortly).
Related Publications
- Gleeson, B.T., Horschel, S.K., and Provancher, W. R., “Communication of Direction through Lateral Skin Stretch at the Fingertip,” In Proc. of the World Haptics Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, March, 2009, pp. 172–177. (Best Paper Award)
- Horschel, S.K., Gleeson, B.T., and Provancher, W. R., “Fingertip Shear Tactile Display,”
World Haptics Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, March, 2009, pp. 611–612.
This work is supported by the National Science Foundation under grant # IIS-0746914. 
