Perceptual Force Caused by Skin Strain on Finger is Enhanced by Applying Vibration

Abstract

The conventional haptic devices required a large space or expensive actuators. To cope the issues, many studies used a perceptual illusion to present perceptual force to the user. Especially, many studies using skin deformation have been proposed. However, the amount of the skin deformation is limited, and the amount of perceptual force that the illusion presents is also limited. We discovered a phenomenon that perceptual force caused by the strained skin can be enhanced by presenting vibration. In this phenomenon, the direction of the force switches when the direction of the skin strain changes. The result of the experiment suggested that the vibration enhanced the perceptual force caused by the skin strain in flexion direction. On the other hand, we could not conclude it in extension direction. However, some participants reported a strong force caused by the skin strain in extension direction when the vibration was presented.