Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T11:30:33.184Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Human capability of discriminating relief-like 2D figures in tactile displaying

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2010

Masahiro Ohka*
Affiliation:
Department of Complex Systems Science, Graduate School of Information Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan
Hiroki Yoshino
Affiliation:
Honda R&D Co., Ltd., Motorcycle R&D Center, 3-15-1, Senzui, Asaka-shi, Saitama 351-0024, Japan. E-mail: Hiroki.Yoshino@mail.a.rd.honda.co.jp
Tetsu Miyaoka
Affiliation:
Shizuoka Institute of Science and Technology, Faculty of Comprehensive Informatics, 2200-2, Toyosawa, Fukuroi-shi, Shizuoka 473-8555, Japan. E-mail: miyaoka@cs.sist.ac.jp
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: ohka@is.nagoya-u.ac.jp

Summary

To enhance tactile display capability, we performed a series of experiments based on psychophysics in which we adopted a circle and eight kinds of ovals as stimuli of the convex line (hereafter tactile image). The circle's diameter is 10 mm, the minor axes of the eight ovals are decreased in 3% steps from the circles, and each major axis is adjusted so that the area of each oval equals the circle area. Human subjects judged which stimuli (presented on the left or the right tactile images) equal the circle. The experiment was conducted on both the finger pads and the thenar parts to compare their experimental sensitivity ratios with the sensitivity ratio estimated on the basis of mechanoreceptor density. The discrimination sensitivity for the thenar part is inferior to that for the finger pad in terms of the low density of the mechanoreceptor in the thenar part. The tactile image was mainly recognized by a slowly adaptive type I unit, but the first adaptive type II unit was not affected by specimen cooling due to discrimination precision. Subsequently, discrimination sensitivity was not different between the free and restricted haptic motions. Since this result implies that the tactile image is modified by a motor signal for the haptic motion to prevent blurring of the tactile image, perhaps the motion movement in the tactile display is changed based on the design convenience.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Higashiyama, A., Miyaoka, T., Taniguchi, S. and Sato, A., “Tactile sense and pain,” Brain Shuppan (2000), 101–107 (in Japanese).Google Scholar
2.Ohka, M., Kawamura, T., Itahashi, T., Takayanagi, J., Miyaoka, T. and Mitsuya, Y., “A tactile recognition system mimicking human mechanism for recognizing surface roughness,” JSME Int. J. Ser. C. 48 (2), 278285 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Ohka, M., Takayanagi, J., Kawamura, T. and Mitsuya, Y., “A surface-shape recognition system mimicking human mechanism for tactile sensation,” Robotica 24, 595602 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Kawamura, T., Ohka, M., Miyaoka, T. and Mitsuya, Y., “Measurement of Human Tactile Sensation Capability to Discriminate Fine Surface Textures Using Variable Step-Height Presentation System,” Proceedings of the 5th IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Communication, Tsukuba, Japan (1996) pp. 274279.Google Scholar
5.Kawamura, T., Ohka, M., Miyaoka, T. and Mitsuya, Y., “Human Tactile Sensation Capability to Discriminate Moving Fine Texture,” Proceedings of the 7th IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Communication, Takamatsu, Japan (1998) pp. 555560.Google Scholar
6.Miyaoka, T., Mano, T. and Ohka, M., “Mechanism of fine-surface-texture discrimination in human tactile sensation,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 105 (4), 24852492 (1999).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7.Ohka, M., Koga, H., Mouri, Y., Sugiura, T., Miyaoka, T. and Mitsuya, Y., “Figure and texture presentation capabilities of a tactile mouse equipped with a display pad stimulus pins,” Robotica 25, 451460 (2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Ohka, M., Kato, K., Fujiwara, T., Mitsuya, Y. and Miyaoka, T., “Presentation capability of compound displays for pressure and force,” J. Adv. Mech. Des. Syst. Manuf. 2 (1), 2436 (2008).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9.Kim, S., Kyung, K., Sohn, J. and Kwon, D., “An Evaluation of Human Sensibility on Perceived Texture under Variation of Vibrotactile Stimuli Using a Tactile Display System,” 14th Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems, Alexandria, Virginia, USA (2006) pp. 429436.Google Scholar
10.Kim, Y., Oakley, I. and Ryu, J., “Design and Psychophysical Evaluation of Pneumatic Tactile Display,” SICE-ICASE 2006 International Joint Conference, Busan, Korea (2006) pp. 19331938.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Johansson, R. S. and Vallbo, Å. B., “Properties of cutaneous mechanoreceptors in the human hand related to touch sensation,” Human Neubiol. 3, 314 (1984).Google Scholar
12.von Holst, E., “Relations between the central nervous system and the peripheral organs,” Br. J. Animal Behav. 89–94 (1954).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Loomis, J. M. and Lederman, S. J., “Tactile Perception,” In: Handbook of Perception and Human Performance (Boff, K. R., Kaufman, L. and Thomas, J. P., eds.), Wiley-Interscience, Malden, MA, USA (1986) pp. 31.231.41.Google Scholar
14.Phillips, J. R., Johansson, R. S. and Johnson, K. O., “Representation of Braille characters in human nerve fibers,” Exp. Brain Res. 81, 589592 (1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Gesheider, G. A., Psychophysics: The Fundamentals, 3rd ed. (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ, USA, 1997) pp. 172.Google Scholar
16.Treutwein, B., “Minireiew/Adaptive psychophysical procedures,” Vis. Res. 35 (17), 25032522 (1995).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Lederman, S. J. and Klatzky, R. L., “The Hand as a Perceptual System,” In: The Psychobiology of the Hand (Connolly, K. J., ed.) (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 1998) pp. 1635.Google Scholar
18.Miyaoka, T. and Mano, T., “Skin temperature determines the sensibilities of mechanoreceptors,” Ann. Res. Inst. Environ. Med., Nagoya University, 48, 173175 (1997) (in Japanese).Google Scholar
19.Greenspan, J. D. and Bolanowski, S. J., “The Psychophysics of Tactile Perception and Its Peripheral Physiological Basis,” In: Pain and Touch (Kruger, L. ed.) (Academic Press, San Diego, 1996) pp. 25103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Miyaoka, T., “Measurements of Detection Thresholds Presenting Normal and Tangential Vibrations on Human Glabrous Ski,” Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Meeting of the International Society for Psychophysics, Coimbra, Portugal (2004) pp. 465470.Google Scholar