Abstract
This paper proposes a vibrotactile glove interface that enables a user to perceive tactile information of virtual object. We also evaluate mental imagery provided from vibrotactile stimuli using the proposed interface. The vibrotactile interface is required to be simple to use, has a high portability and be light. We therefore propose a glove-type vibrotactile interface. In addition, active touch might be useful to realize informative tactile communication. To provide tactile stimuli based on movement of the fingers, five bending sensors are installed on the glove. In this paper, we investigate tactile mental imagery of users caused by vibration to design vibration stimuli. After that, we apply the vibration stimuli model to active touch. We evaluate tactile mental imagery of users in both cases of passive touch and active touch.
