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Effects of distance and direction on tangential tactile perception of the index finger pad

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2013

Greg Placencia ,
Mansour Rahimi  and
Behrokh Khoshnevis
Greg Placencia
Affiliation:
Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
Mansour Rahimi*
Affiliation:
Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
Behrokh Khoshnevis
Affiliation:
Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: mrahimi@usc.edu
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Summary

Tangential motion on a finger pad is a promising method of transmitting directional tactile information to human users. This study examined the identification and discrimination of tangential force motion on an index finger pad. An experimental device was built to automatically and randomly move a small probe in eight radial directions (45° apart) and two distances (0.5 and 1.5 mm). Index fingers of 62 subjects were tested. The results showed that moving the probe at 1.5 mm was detected with more accuracy than the 0.5 mm one. And, the absolute direction was not a statistically significant variable affecting accuracy for 1.5 mm distance, but was a significant effect for 0.5 mm distance. Implications of these results are discussed and future developments are offered within the context of a proposed Braille design with tangential actuators.

Keywords

Tactile interfacesTangential stimulusMulti-directional responseDistance/direction effectsHaptic experimentation
Type
Articles
Information
Robotica , Volume 31 , Issue 5 , August 2013 , pp. 679 - 685
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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