User's Fingertip Research Articles

Effectiveness of a Technology-Based Intervention to Teach Evidence-Based Practice: The EBR Tool.

As the world becomes increasingly digital, advances in technology have changed how students access evidence-based information. Research suggests that students overestimate their ability to locate quality online research and lack the skills needed to evaluate the scientific literature. Clinical nurses report relying on personal experience to answer clinical questions rather than searching evidence-based sources. To address the problem, a web-based, evidence-based research (EBR) tool that is usable from a computer, smartphone, or iPad was developed and tested. The purpose of the EBR tool is to guide students through the basic steps needed to locate and critically appraise the online scientific literature while linking users to quality electronic resources to support evidence-based practice (EBP). Testing of the tool took place in a mixed-method, quasi-experimental, and two-population randomized controlled trial (RCT) design in a U.S. and Middle East university. A statistically significant improvement in overall research skills was supported in the quasi-experimental nursing student group and RCT nutrition student group using the EBR tool. A statistically significant proportional difference was supported in the RCT nutrition and PharmD intervention groups in participants' ability to distinguish the credibility of online source materials compared with controls. The majority of participants could correctly apply PICOTS to a case study when using the tool. The data from this preliminary study suggests that the EBR tool enhanced student overall research skills and selected EBP skills while generating data for assessment of learning outcomes. The EBR tool places evidence-based resources at the fingertips of users by addressing some of the most commonly cited barriers to research utilization while exposing users to information and online literacy standards of practice, meeting a growing need within nursing curricula.

Frictional Compliant Haptic Contact and Deformation of Soft Objects

This paper is concerned with compliant haptic contact and deformation of soft objects. A human soft fingertip model is considered to act as the haptic interface and is brought into contact with and deforms a discrete surface. A nonlinear constitutive law is developed in predicting normal forces and, for the haptic display of surface texture, motions along the surface are also resisted at various rates by accounting for dynamic Lund-Grenoble (LuGre) frictional forces. For the soft fingertip to apply forces over an area larger than a point, normal and frictional forces are distributed around the soft fingertip contact location on the deforming surface. The distribution is realized based on a kernel smoothing function and by a nonlinear spring-damper net around the contact point. Experiments conducted demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of our approach in real-time haptic rendering of a kidney surface. The resistive (interaction) forces are applied at the user fingertip bone edge. A 3-DoF parallel robotic manipulator equipped with a constraint based controller is used for the implementation. By rendering forces both in lateral and normal directions, the designed haptic interface system allows the user to realistically feel both the geometrical and mechanical (nonlinear) properties of the deforming kidney.

Displaying Sensed Tactile Cues with a Fingertip Haptic Device.

Telerobotic systems enable humans to explore and manipulate remote environments for applications such as surgery and disaster response, but few such systems provide the operator with cutaneous feedback. This article presents a novel approach to remote cutaneous interaction; our method is compatible with any fingertip tactile sensor and any mechanical tactile display device, and it does not require a position/force or skin deformation model. Instead, it directly maps the sensed stimuli to the best possible input commands for the device's motors using a data set recorded with the tactile sensor inside the device. As a proof of concept, we considered a haptic system composed of a BioTac tactile sensor, in charge of measuring contact deformations, and a custom 3-DoF cutaneous device with a flat contact platform, in charge of applying deformations to the user's fingertip. To validate the proposed approach and discover its inherent tradeoffs, we carried out two remote tactile interaction experiments. The first one evaluated the error between the tactile sensations registered by the BioTac in a remote environment and the sensations created by the cutaneous device for six representative tactile interactions and 27 variations of the display algorithm. The normalized average errors in the best condition were 3.0 percent of the BioTac's full 12-bit scale. The second experiment evaluated human subjects' experiences for the same six remote interactions and eight algorithm variations. The average subjective rating for the best algorithm variation was 8.2 out of 10, where 10 is best.

1P1-W09 3自由度直動パラレル機構を利用した装着型指先触覚提示装置の開発

A tactile device which utilizes a 3 degree of freedom small parallel mechanism is developed. The device presents pressure sensation, two directional share force and vibration at a user's fingertip. The device is designed to be used together with a glove type device. The whole system including the tactile device and the glove type device is expected to present various sensation to the user's hand.

Wearable Wireless Tactile Display for Virtual Interactions with Soft Bodies

We describe here a wearable, wireless, compact, and lightweight tactile display, able to mechanically stimulate the fingertip of users, so as to simulate contact with soft bodies in virtual environments. The device was based on dielectric elastomer actuators, as high-performance electromechanically active polymers. The actuator was arranged at the user’s fingertip, integrated within a plastic case, which also hosted a compact high-voltage circuitry. A custom-made wireless control unit was arranged on the forearm and connected to the display via low-voltage leads. We present the structure of the device and a characterization of it, in terms of electromechanical response and stress relaxation. Furthermore, we present results of a psychophysical test aimed at assessing the ability of the system to generate different levels of force that can be perceived by users.

Multi-fingered haptic palpation using pneumatic feedback actuators

This paper proposes a multi-fingered palpation method which employs pneumatic haptic feedback actuators allowing users to experience haptic sensations at multiple fingers while carrying out remote soft tissue palpation. Pneumatic actuators are used to vary the stress on the user's fingertips in accordance with the tissue stiffness, experienced during manual palpation. The proposed method reduces actuator elements compared to tactile actuators and provides more information than single-point force feedback. The results of our finite element analysis have proven that our pneumatic haptic feedback device can recreate the contact stress between fingertip and soft tissue during palpation. The accuracy (96.8% vs. 93.3%) and time-efficiency (4.6s vs. 8.3s) advantages of using three-fingered over single-fingered palpation have been confirmed in our user study results of stiffness levels discrimination. Relatively good tumor detection sensitivities have been demonstrated by the palpation user study which has showed a direct correlation between tumor size and detection sensitivity and has further proven the efficiency of the proposed actuator and multi-fingered palpation method for tumor detection in palpation simulation.

Development of an Information Projection Interface Using a Projector–Camera System

SUMMARYThis paper proposes an interface system that enables a user to input and obtain information independent of position within a certain area in an environment with a projector–camera system. Hand gestures detected in the image are used as a cue to start the system, to distinguish gestures based on the user's intention to operate the system from other daily‐life motions, and to specify the position of the user's hand. Hand gesture detection is implemented based on a combination of the background subtraction method and skin color extraction. The user can designate the projection area freely on a flat surface in the environment with his/her hand. The projector is mounted on a pan‐tilt unit that projects information according to the user's indications. Then, the user's fingertip is detected using simple template matching and he/she interacts with the projected information to input commands without any equipment. As one application, we developed an interface system to operate electrical appliances such as a television intuitively in an everyday environment. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn, 96(11): 70–81, 2013; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/ecj.11477

A micro tactile transceiver for fingertip motion recognition and texture generation

We present a micro tactile information transceiver that recognizes user's fingertip motion (direction/selection) input and generates artificial texture output using frictional-force tunable slider-pad. The proposed micro tactile transceiver offers capacitive detection of human gesture input and simultaneous generation of frictional force and vibration by electrostatic attraction of slider-pad. In the experimental study, we verified the tactile input recognition performance by measuring the capacitance changes for the z-axis (selection) and x-/y-axis (direction) movement, which were 0.146±0.02nF/40μm and 0.03±0.02nF/250μm, respectively. We also verified the artificial texture generation performance by measuring frictional force and lateral vibration by controlling the electrostatic force between slider-pad and electrode layer. The frictional force was measured in the range of 32–152mN under 0–80V DC input voltages, offering the lateral force on skin in the range of 121–580mN combined with spring force. We applied AC voltage to induce fluctuating frictional force to generate lateral vibration on the skin, and obtained peak-to-peak fluctuation of 128.1±0.8mN under 3Hz/60V which is a 32% improved value compared to previous approaches. The proposed micro tactile information transceiver is capable of recognizing human gesture information (direction/selection) and generating the artificial texture information.

1A2-E08 遭遇型指装着触覚ディスプレイによる摩擦感提示(ハプティックインタフェース(2))

Presentation of friction is a critical essence in various scenes such as support for remote operation of robot hand or haptic interaction with virtual world. In this paper, we propose a novel tactile device that can present friction by using vertical vibration and horizontal skin deformation to user's fingertip. Adding tangential skin deformation, which has been used for presenting friction in previous works, we represent counter force from surface so that we can present natural haptic interaction with friction. Furthermore, the device can present friction by cutaneous feedback system, which is able to be realized by simple implementation, while kinesthetic feedback system can be heavy and complex.

31.1: Invited Paper: Programmable Electrostatic Surface for Tactile Perceptions

AbstractWe describe a fully programmable Electrostatic Tactile (ET) feedback system that delivers a range of tactile textures to a mobile display. The ET system is a robust, thin, and optically transparent structure that can be overlaid unobtrusively on top of a display screen. The system exploits the phenomenon of electrovibration to create a controllable frictional force between a user's fingertip and the surface. The system enables the realization of localized tactile information delivered to the user's skin directly, without moving parts. A tactile image is formed in accordance with the visual information displayed (virtual textures, tactile silhouettes, etc.). The magnitude and pattern of the frictional force on the display can be programmed to correspond to the images shown on the display and actual coordinates of the touch interaction in real time. This has been achieved using a variety of different materials, including those that are compatible with flexible devices.

Learning to discover: Youth information literacy in the “i” digital age

AbstractToday's digital information environment is rich with varied types of information that is available anytime, anywhere at a user's fingertips. While children and young adults constitute a high percent of the online population worldwide and are being characterized as “savvy,” or “born digital,” there is a need to examine how what has been considered a “distraction” in using the web can be transformed into valuable information that these young users are enable to capture and use at a later time. Existing models of information behavior in traditional environments may allow us to predict certain aspects of young users' information seeking. However, most of these models do not account for information discovery or information encountering that occurs throughout the information seeking process. In this panel, researchers will discuss the changing nature of teaching, learning, and capturing young users' information behaviors in the “I” digital environment. They will propose ways for developing holistic understanding of young users' information behavior processes that encapsulate information discovery and digital inquiry.

Development of an Information Projection Interface using a Projector-Camera System

This paper proposes an interface system that enables a user to input and obtain information position-freely within a certain area of the environment with a projector-camera system. Hand-waving detected in the image is used as a cue to start the system, to distinguish gestures based on the user's intension of operation from other daily-life motions, and to specify the position of the user's hand. Hand-waving detection is implemented based on combination of background subtraction method and skin color extraction. In addition, we focus on changes of brightness value in each pixel. The user's hand is tracked using a particle filter algorithm. The user designates the projection area freely on a plane in the environment with his/her hand. The projector mounted on a pan-tilt unit projects information according to the user's designation. Then, the user's fingertip is detected using simple template matching and he/she interacts with the projected information to input commands without any devices. As one of applications, we have developed an interface system to operate electrical appliances (TV) intuitively in a daily life scene.

Design of a Tactile Instrument to Measure Human Roughness Perception in a Virtual Environment

This paper presents the experimental results on the measurement of human texture perception in virtual environments. The experiment is conducted with a haptic tactile instrument that provides sensations of rough textures directly to the fingertip of the users. It consists of a brush and a DC motor. The brush rubs directly against the user's fingertip. Simulated texture is felt through an aperture on the tactile actuator where the users place their fingertip. The speed and direction of the brush are varied to control the roughness of the virtual surface and to determine the effect of either variable on perceived roughness. The actuator is designed to be attached to an existing force feedback device in order to create an interface that can provide force feedback and tactile feedback. The magnitudes of rough textures are measured through this device by comparing the virtual textures with real sandpapers of different grit sizes. Through human factor testing, it is found that the direction of rotation has negligible effects on roughness perception when the time gap between two consecutive stimuli is as large as 10 s. However, when the time gap is reduced to 0.5 s, the effects of direction become prominent. The just noticeable difference with respect to speed is found to decrease as the base speed of the brush increases. The results also show that although each subject's perception of roughness is biased using various sandpapers, the measured data is divided between two trends. One group of users perceives the roughness to increase with increasing speed, while the other group perceives the roughness to decrease.

Assisting System in Touch-Panel Operation Using Stereo Camera

In this paper, we propose a system that can be used to simplify touch-panel operation for people with visual disability. In the system, a user specifies the target button on the panel by a verbal input. The system detects the button and user's fingertip by analyzing images obtained through a stereo camera. The system helps in guiding a finger to the panel by indicating the direction of motion of the fingertip relative to the panel through sounds generated in a headphone. To devise an efficient navigation method, ways to indicate the direction of motion of the finger, different types of navigation sounds, and ways to indicate the distance between the finger and the panel were considered. The experiment showed the effectiveness of the proposed system and the average navigation time for the most efficient method was 9.7s.

Infrared Sensitive Camera Based Finger-Friendly Interactive Display System

In this paper we present a system that enables the user to interact with large display system even without touching the screen. With two infrared sensitive cameras mounted on the bottom left and bottom right of the display system pointing upwards, the user fingertip position on the selected region of interest of each camera view is found using vertical intensity profile of the background subtracted image. The position of the finger in two images of left and right camera is mapped to the display screen coordinate by using pre-determined matrices, which are calculated by interpolating samples of user finger position on the images taken by pointing finger over some known coordinate position of the display system. The screen is then manipulated according to the calculated position and depth of the fingertip with respect to the display system. Experimental results demonstrate an efficient, robust and stable human computer interaction.

Wearable handwriting input device using magnetic field

Abstract In the past we proposed a wearable handwriting input device using magnetic field. This device requires mounting a permanent magnet onto the user's fingertip and operates by detecting the magnetic field generated by the magnet through two magnetic sensors attached at the wrist of the other hand. The position of the magnet is calculated by the vector of the magnetic field. The calculation assumes that the magnetic axis rests on a plane where the sensors lie, perpendicular to the vector formed by the two sensors. In this paper we study the level of error that may arise when this assumption is violated, by investigating four possible misalignments (two kinds of rotations of the magnet and two ways of positioning the writing plane) with comparing the result of experiment and simulation. We conclude that misalignment due to a z-axis rotation is non-negligible and is best avoided during usage.

Wearable communication device

A wearable communication device includes a bone conduction actuator which is applicable for being in contact with a user's wrist, hand, back of the hand, finger or nail in order to transmit voice signals. The user inserts the user's finger into the user's ear canal, or touches the user's finger to a part near the user's ear, or puts the user's fingertip or nail on the user's ear canal so as to block the user's ear canal when the user uses the wearable communication device. Also, the wearable command input device includes a first part for detecting shock or acceleration which arises when the user taps the user's fingertip on the surface of an object or when the user taps the fingertips mutually and which is transmitted through the user's finger, a second part for detecting specific frequency components which are included in signals from the first part and for detecting the presence or the absence of the tap of the finger of the user, and a part for determining and executing commands based on series of signals output from the second part.

Haptic Teleoperation of Humanoid Robot Hand Using Three-Dimensional Force Feedback

Abstract This paper presents experimental results of the haptic teleoperation of humanoid robot hand using three-dimensional force feedback. The humanoid robot hand called KH Hand, which has a thumb and four-fingers with 15 DOF, is teleoperated through a multi-fingered haptic interface robot called HIRO III. This haptic teleoperation system provides the touch sensation of three-dimensional force to the user's fingertips. Experiments show high performance in three-dimensional manipulation.

Use of Magnetorheological Fluid in a Force Feedback Glove

Magnetorheological fluid (MRF) is a smart material that has the property of changing its viscosity when exposed to a magnetic field. By placing this fluid into a sealed cylinder with an electromagnet piston as a core, a controllable resistance motion dampener can be created. A novel exoskeleton mechanical power transmission system was designed, utilizing rapid prototype parts, to transmit these resistive forces to the user's fingertips. A first iteration force feedback glove was developed and tested on human subjects for overall usability. The eventual goal of the system is to provide an alternative force producing system for exercises and rehabilitation. The entire system is lightweight, low power, and easily portable.

Improving contact realism through event-based haptic feedback

Tapping on surfaces in a typical virtual environment feels like contact with soft foam rather than a hard object. The realism of such interactions can be dramatically improved by superimposing event-based, high-frequency transient forces over traditional position-based feedback. When scaled by impact velocity, hand-tuned pulses and decaying sinusoids produce haptic cues that resemble those experienced during real impacts. Our new method for generating appropriate transients inverts a dynamic model of the haptic device to determine the motor forces required to create prerecorded acceleration profiles at the user's fingertips. After development, the event-based haptic paradigm and the method of acceleration matching were evaluated in a carefully controlled user study. Sixteen individuals blindly tapped on nine virtual and three real samples, rating the degree to which each felt like real wood. Event-based feedback achieved significantly higher realism ratings than the traditional rendering method. The display of transient signals made virtual objects feel similar to a real sample of wood on a foam substrate, while position feedback alone received ratings similar to those of foam. This work provides an important new avenue for increasing the realism of contact in haptic interactions.