For the intuitive manipulation of teleoperating robot hand and virtual avatar hand (slave hand), tactile feedback is essential. This is especially true when the slave hand interacts with virtual or real objects. Many manipulation devices (master hand) with tactile feedback functionality have been developed, but the following issues remain to be solved.
First, wearing the glove type device is cumbersome, and sometimes causes trouble when the user has large/small hand. Second, presentation of tactile feedback only at the fingertips of the user can afford limited part of action. Many hand manipulations such as grasping tools and shaking hands require tactile presentation to palm. Third, low spatial resolution in the case of using a vibration motor or an actuator for each fingertip can present limited tactile information.
To cope with these issues, we developed WholeGrip, a grip-type master hand that has electro-tactile display at the whole side surface. The users grasp the WholeGrip using their whole hands and interact with the objects using the whole hand. The above issues are solved as follows. First, the cylindrical shape enabled the user to grasp without attachment. Second, the device can present tactile sensation to the whole skin of the hand that contacts the device. Third, the electro-tactile display enabled 3 mm interval high resolution tactile stimulation, which is the same as the two-pint discrimination threshold of the finger except fingertip.
We mounted the WholeGrip on a desktop type force feedback device. Users can interact with the virtual objects by many kinds of actions. The system presents not only tactile feedback to the whole skin of the hand that contacts the WholeGrip, but also force feedback to the hand when the users interact with the virtual objects. The feedback enables the users to recognize the shape of contact object.

Presenter(s)

Seiya Takei, The University of Electro-Communications
Ryo Watanabe, JSPS Research Fellow, The University of Electro-Communications
Ryuta Okazaki, JSPS Research Fellow, The University of Electro-Communications
Taku Hachisu, University of Tsukuba
Michi Sato, The University of Electro-Communications
Hiroyuki Kajimoto, The University of Electro-Communications