Multi-Finger High Fidelity Haptic Exploration

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Robotics and Human Augmentation ProgramABSTRACTProposal #: 303750Title: Multi-Finger High Fidelity Haptic ExplorationPI: Hannaford, BlakeU of WashingtonHaptic interfaces apply ideas from robotic manipulation science and technology to human interfaces and human augmentation. Current haptic interfaces have proven their feasibility for a variety of applications. Better haptic interfaces could dramatically improve medical training through high fidelity simulators for invasive medical procedures. Such procedures must be taught today on human patients. However, the richness and fidelity of most haptic interfaces is still limited. It is very difficult to engineer a haptic interface with many degrees of freedom (DOF) and also the high bandwidth and low friction necessary for rendering subtle but important details. Before we expend this effort, we should know what if any perceptual benefit is provided by multiple fingered/multi DOF devices. This project will study how human performance in haptic perception and exploration varies as increasing number of fingers are supported through increasing degrees of freedom. An existing high fidelity haptic device for the index finger will be duplicated to support haptic exploration with up to four fingers and two degrees of freedom per finger. This will allow independent variation of number of fingers and number of DOF. A preliminary evaluation of the device will measure performance in detecting small haptic features, and demonstrate haptic exploration of novel surfaces. We will learn whether and how haptic perception performance and strategies vary with the number of fingers and number of fingers per DOF.