Acute Decisive Fuzzy Haptic Surface Response System for Tactile Sensitivity

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) environment has been gaining significance and it is now possible for one to touch the virtual objects and also transform them with hands. But it requires much more than a fast graphic board and an immersive visual display to realize the VR. For tasks like multiple-finger interaction, it requires a force-feedback device which generally is acquired from a wearable ‘haptic glove’. The recent progress in the VR market has resulted in the sophistication of efforts in this technology. Already existing haptic gloves provide only generic haptic feedback to the user, thus, the user cannot differentiate the texture of the objects that he/she is interacting within the virtual environment. To overcome this drawback, the proposed system uses machine learning complemented with a fuzzy logic system to provide distinctive haptic feedback based on the object textures such as coarse, smooth, etc., movement of the user’s hand and its speed. This system is designed to be used as an add-on with the existing VR Gloves so that user’s hand movement tracking data collected by the existing system can be reused by the proposed system. This eliminates the need for additional Inertial measurement sensors, thereby reducing the costs of the overall project. This paper presents a new system that enhances the haptic feedback system by using a differential mechanism based on the texture of the object that can be rendered in VR. This application paves a path for advanced decision-making assistance in haptic surgeries in modern medicine.