Tactile Display of Vibratory Information in Teleoperation and Virtual Environments

This paper investigates the use of tactile displays for conveying task-related vibrations in teleoperation and virtual environments. Vibration displays can be implemented with inexpensive, open loop devices that can be added to many existing systems to improve performance. We describe the design of our prototype vibration sensing and display system, and experimentally demonstrate the utility of this type of tactile feedback. We also delineate the kinds of tasks where high frequency vibratory feedback is important. In inspection and exploration tasks the detection of vibrations can be the fundamental goal of the task, while in some manipulation tasks vibrations can enhance performance by reducing reaction times or permitting minimization of forces. Design guidelines for implementation of vibration displays, based on simple mechanical models, are also presented.