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This paper introduces the development of a tactile device using a shape-memory alloy and describes the information transmission by the higher psychological perception, such as the phantom sensation and the apparent movement of the tactility. The authors paid attention to the characteristic of a shape-memory alloy formed into a thread, which changes its length according to its body temperature, and developed a vibration-generating actuator electrically driven by periodic signals generated by current control circuits, for the tactile information transmission. The size of the actuator is quite compact, and the energy consumption is only 20mW. By coupling the actuators as a pair, an information-transmission system was constructed for presenting the apparent movement of the tactility to transmit a quite novel sensation to a user. Based on the preliminary experiment, the parameters for the tactile information transmission were examined. Then the information transmission by the device was tested by 10 subjects and evaluated by questionnaires. The apparent movement was especially well perceived by users as a sensation of a small object running on the skin surface or as being tapped by something, according to the well-determined signals given to the actuators. Several users reported that they perceived a novel rubbing sensation given by the AM, and we further experimented the presentation of the sensation in detail to be used as a sensory-aids tactile display for handicapped and elderly people. INTRODUCTIONHumans are able to communicate with each other by using not only verbal media but also the five senses, such as vision, audition, olfaction, and tactility, and effectively using their body parts. Information transmitted through nonverbal media directly affects our emotions and feelings, and hand gestures and touch feelings especially play an important role for the emotional human communication. In face-to-face communication, gestures and touch actions are effectively employed together with the information transmitted through speech and vision; and in the conversation about an actual object, the tactile sensation and haptics help to understand the object intuitively. Human communication is regarded as information transmission through our body and sensations, and the computer has recently been used as an extensive tool for supporting communications as humanmachine interfaces. Especially for supporting disabled and elderly people, computers and intelligent devices are now essential tools in the daily life.

Our virtual reality training system for endoscope-assisted removal of the submandibular gland is effective in the training of novice oral surgeons in endoscope-assisted surgery.

It is understood that nonverbal means of communication are more important than verbal communication in the transmission of intention or emotion. Gestures using body or hand are typical nonverbal means of communication. Human intention or emotion appears to be expressed to a greater extent by the force applied to the body than by the position of the hand. The authors noted that the force acting during motion can be sensed as an acceleration and therefore attempted recognition of gestures with a three‐dimensional acceleration sensor. In the experiments using this system, the changes of the acceleration, the rotational force, and the directional distribution of the acceleration are determined from the sequential three‐dimensional acceleration data, as features of the motion. By examining the extent of matching to standard patterns, ten kinds of gestures can be discriminated with a nearly 100 percent recognition rate. A real‐time music control system is also constructed by applying the proposed method. Compared to the conventional methods using image processing or the data gloves, in the new system the delay in tempo detection is shorter and the mechanism is simpler. The system gives a clue to the design of flexible and sensitive man‐machine interfaces based on gesture. © 1997 Scripta Technica, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 3, 80(5): 9–17, 1997

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