Neuromorphic Vibrotactile Stimulation of Fingertips for Encoding Object Stiffness in Telepresence Sensory Substitution and Augmentation Applications
We present a tactile telepresence system for real-time transmission of information about object stiffness to the human fingertips. Experimental tests were performed across two laboratories (Italy and Ireland). In the Italian laboratory, a mechatronic sensing platform indented different rubber sample...
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doaj-a32cb3be323e4ab6833c044584d922552020-11-24T21:06:19ZengMDPI AGSensors1424-82202018-01-0118126110.3390/s18010261s18010261Neuromorphic Vibrotactile Stimulation of Fingertips for Encoding Object Stiffness in Telepresence Sensory Substitution and Augmentation ApplicationsFrancesca Sorgini0Luca Massari1Jessica D’Abbraccio2Eduardo Palermo3Arianna Menciassi4Petar B. Petrovic5Alberto Mazzoni6Maria Chiara Carrozza7Fiona N. Newell8Calogero M. Oddo9Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, The BioRobotics Institute, 56025 Pisa, ItalySant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, The BioRobotics Institute, 56025 Pisa, ItalySant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, The BioRobotics Institute, 56025 Pisa, ItalyDepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, “Sapienza” University of Rome, 00185 Roma, ItalySant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, The BioRobotics Institute, 56025 Pisa, ItalyProduction Engineering Department, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade, 11120 Belgrade, SerbiaSant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, The BioRobotics Institute, 56025 Pisa, ItalySant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, The BioRobotics Institute, 56025 Pisa, ItalySchool of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College, 2 Dublin, IrelandSant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, The BioRobotics Institute, 56025 Pisa, ItalyWe present a tactile telepresence system for real-time transmission of information about object stiffness to the human fingertips. Experimental tests were performed across two laboratories (Italy and Ireland). In the Italian laboratory, a mechatronic sensing platform indented different rubber samples. Information about rubber stiffness was converted into on-off events using a neuronal spiking model and sent to a vibrotactile glove in the Irish laboratory. Participants discriminated the variation of the stiffness of stimuli according to a two-alternative forced choice protocol. Stiffness discrimination was based on the variation of the temporal pattern of spikes generated during the indentation of the rubber samples. The results suggest that vibrotactile stimulation can effectively simulate surface stiffness when using neuronal spiking models to trigger vibrations in the haptic interface. Specifically, fractional variations of stiffness down to 0.67 were significantly discriminated with the developed neuromorphic haptic interface. This is a performance comparable, though slightly worse, to the threshold obtained in a benchmark experiment evaluating the same set of stimuli naturally with the own hand. Our paper presents a bioinspired method for delivering sensory feedback about object properties to human skin based on contingency–mimetic neuronal models, and can be useful for the design of high performance haptic devices.http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/18/1/261tactile perceptionneuromorphiccontingency-mimeticstelepresencevibrotactilesensory augmentationhaptics |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Francesca Sorgini Luca Massari Jessica D’Abbraccio Eduardo Palermo Arianna Menciassi Petar B. Petrovic Alberto Mazzoni Maria Chiara Carrozza Fiona N. Newell Calogero M. Oddo |
spellingShingle |
Francesca Sorgini Luca Massari Jessica D’Abbraccio Eduardo Palermo Arianna Menciassi Petar B. Petrovic Alberto Mazzoni Maria Chiara Carrozza Fiona N. Newell Calogero M. Oddo Neuromorphic Vibrotactile Stimulation of Fingertips for Encoding Object Stiffness in Telepresence Sensory Substitution and Augmentation Applications Sensors tactile perception neuromorphic contingency-mimetics telepresence vibrotactile sensory augmentation haptics |
author_facet |
Francesca Sorgini Luca Massari Jessica D’Abbraccio Eduardo Palermo Arianna Menciassi Petar B. Petrovic Alberto Mazzoni Maria Chiara Carrozza Fiona N. Newell Calogero M. Oddo |
author_sort |
Francesca Sorgini |
title |
Neuromorphic Vibrotactile Stimulation of Fingertips for Encoding Object Stiffness in Telepresence Sensory Substitution and Augmentation Applications |
title_short |
Neuromorphic Vibrotactile Stimulation of Fingertips for Encoding Object Stiffness in Telepresence Sensory Substitution and Augmentation Applications |
title_full |
Neuromorphic Vibrotactile Stimulation of Fingertips for Encoding Object Stiffness in Telepresence Sensory Substitution and Augmentation Applications |
title_fullStr |
Neuromorphic Vibrotactile Stimulation of Fingertips for Encoding Object Stiffness in Telepresence Sensory Substitution and Augmentation Applications |
title_full_unstemmed |
Neuromorphic Vibrotactile Stimulation of Fingertips for Encoding Object Stiffness in Telepresence Sensory Substitution and Augmentation Applications |
title_sort |
neuromorphic vibrotactile stimulation of fingertips for encoding object stiffness in telepresence sensory substitution and augmentation applications |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Sensors |
issn |
1424-8220 |
publishDate |
2018-01-01 |
description |
We present a tactile telepresence system for real-time transmission of information about object stiffness to the human fingertips. Experimental tests were performed across two laboratories (Italy and Ireland). In the Italian laboratory, a mechatronic sensing platform indented different rubber samples. Information about rubber stiffness was converted into on-off events using a neuronal spiking model and sent to a vibrotactile glove in the Irish laboratory. Participants discriminated the variation of the stiffness of stimuli according to a two-alternative forced choice protocol. Stiffness discrimination was based on the variation of the temporal pattern of spikes generated during the indentation of the rubber samples. The results suggest that vibrotactile stimulation can effectively simulate surface stiffness when using neuronal spiking models to trigger vibrations in the haptic interface. Specifically, fractional variations of stiffness down to 0.67 were significantly discriminated with the developed neuromorphic haptic interface. This is a performance comparable, though slightly worse, to the threshold obtained in a benchmark experiment evaluating the same set of stimuli naturally with the own hand. Our paper presents a bioinspired method for delivering sensory feedback about object properties to human skin based on contingency–mimetic neuronal models, and can be useful for the design of high performance haptic devices. |
topic |
tactile perception neuromorphic contingency-mimetics telepresence vibrotactile sensory augmentation haptics |
url |
http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/18/1/261 |
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