Can A Vibrotactile Stimulation On Fingertips Make An Illusion Of Elbow Joint Movement?

Abstract

With the proliferation of haptic interfaces, the vibrotactile capabilities are accessible to a substantial number of end-users allowing a more realistic experience with Virtual Reality. Currently, the primary use of this vibrotactile feedback is to provide additional support to visual interaction via prehensile object manipulation using fingers. Nevertheless, haptic stimuli can be also applied for non-prehensile interaction that involves movements of the elbow joint. In this paper, we have designed and evaluated a vibrotactile device to investigate the effect of haptic stimuli, applied onto the fingertips, on a sensation of elbow displacements. The vision-driven displacement produced by the pseudo-haptics effect is then amplified by the vibrotactile stimuli. The experimental platform consists of a voice-coil actuator and a force sensor for generating mechanical vibrations at fingertips. The efficacy of the approach was validated in experiments with human subjects. The results show that the combination of pseudo-haptic and haptic illusion effects can be used to render various soft and rigid virtual objects.