A survey of perceptual feedback issues in dexterous telemanipulation. II. Finger touch feedback

For part I see ibid., p.263-70 (1994). The existing touch display technologies in the literature are surveyed. This survey indicates five main approaches to touch feedback, involving visual, pneumatic, vibro-tactile, electro-tactile and neuromuscular stimulations. A pneumatics approach could use air jets, air pockets or inflatable bladders to provide touch feedback cues to the operator. Similarly the vibro-tactile approach could use vibrating pins, voice coils, or piezoelectric crystals to provide tickling sensation to the human operator's skin to signal the touch. The electro-tactile stimulation method can provide electric pulses of appropriate width and frequency to the skin, while the neuromuscular stimulation approach provides the signals directly to the primary cortex of the operator's brain. With regard to this, 17 devices, most of which were built for sensory substitution purposes, are examined and compared for their suitability as touch feedback devices for dexterous telemanipulation.>