This paper introduces a new type of Haptic AR system. Our approach uses electrical stimulation through the skin, or electro-tactile display. Since the electrotactile display essentially requires only electrodes on the skin, it can be made quite thin and small. This leads to a new application area of tactile display, the SmartTouch. The SmartTouch is composed of a thin electro-tactile display and a sensor mounted on the skin. The sensed information is converted to tactile sensation through electrical stimulation. Thus, the wearer not only can make physical contact with the object, but also “touch” surface information of any modality, even those that are ordinarily non-touchable. The prototype of SmartTouch is composed of two layers. The top layer has a 4 by 4 array of stimulating electrodes on the front side of a thin plate, while the bottom layer has optical sensors on the reverse side of the plate. Visual images captured by the sensor are translated into tactile information, and displayed through electrical stimulation. We endeavored to realize the perception of luminance information as the unevenness of the object surface, by imitating the sensory nerve activity with electrical pulses.
雑誌名
日本バーチャルリアリティ学会論文誌 = Transactions of the Virtual Reality Society of Japan
電気触覚を用いた皮膚感覚のオーグメンティドリアリティ
tachi_2003_NA.pdf
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