Quantification of the Effect of Localized Vibration on Tactile Sensing at the Fingertip Using Cusp Surface Analysis(Theory and Methodology)

Abstract

This paper discusses the effect of localized vibration on tactile sensing at the fingertip. Cusp surface analysis was utilized where each subject's emotional instability, discrimination ability and localized vibration at the fingertip were the factors of analysis. A subject's discrimination ability properly was quantified using the magnitude estimation method. The results of cusp surface analysis, it is clarified that a catastrophe phenomenon generates in the relationship among emotional instability, acceleration amplitude and discrimination ability. In the range of the bifurcation set, it was shown that when the acceleration amplitude of localized vibration is increased, the probability of lower level mode in discrimination ability increases, and when emotional instability increases, the probability of lower level mode in discrimination ability increases.