Abstract
In the real world, people heavily rely on haptic or touch to manipulate objects. In emerging systems such as assistive devices, remote surgery, self-driving cars and the guidance of human movements, visual or auditory feedback can be slow, unintuitive and increase the cognitive load. Skin stretch devices (SSDs) that apply tangential force to the skin via a tactor can encode a far richer haptic space, not being limited to force, motion, direction, stiffness, indentation and surface geometry. This paper introduces novel hand-worn hydraulic SSDs that can induce 3-axis tangential forces to the skin via a tactor. The developed SSDs are controlled by new soft microtubule muscles (SMMs) which are driven by hydraulic pressure via custom miniature syringes and DC micromotors. An analytical model is developed to characterize the responses of SMM output in terms of force and elongation. A kinematic model for the motion of the 3-axis SSD is also developed. We evaluate the capability of the tactor head to track circular reference trajectories within different working spaces using an optical tracking system. Experimental results show that the developed SSDs have good durability, high-speed, and can generate omnidirectional shear forces and desired displacement up to 1.8 N and 4.5 mm, respectively. The developed SMMs and SSDs created in this paper will enable new forms of haptic communication to augment human performance during daily activities such as tactile textual language, motion guidance and navigational assistance, remote surgical systems, rehabilitation, education, training, entertainment, or virtual and augmented reality.
Highlights
The richest form of communication between human beings is achieved via language that is commonly conveyed using visual or auditory modalities
The developed soft microtubule muscles (SMMs) presented in this work is driven by a fluid pressure source that consists of a flexible silicone microtube and a hollow micro-coil which is made from inextensible fibers
Once the soft microtubule is completely inserted into the coil, one end is tied into a knot and permanently adhered onto the coil end by an adhesive glue (LOCTITE R, USA) while the other end is connected to a commercial fluid tube (Cole-Parmer, USA)
Summary
The richest form of communication between human beings is achieved via language that is commonly conveyed using visual or auditory modalities. In a newer version proposed by Yoshida et al [28], the authors extended the design with a rigid rotational housing that is affixed to a DC motor and three soft fiber-constrained linear pneumatic actuators to enable linear horizontal and vertical movements This device can simultaneously induce normal and shear forces for haptic vibration and torsional skin deformation cues.
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