This paper presents a user-friendly hand haptic interface to recognize surrounding obstacles around the user such as elderly or visually impaired for one's safe walk. The system is implemented on a joystick with force feedback mounted on a walker. The user is able to recognize the surrounding information by perceiving repulsive force with hand, generated in a feedback while manipulating the joystick. To build up the system, a virtual potential field corresponding to the distance and direction to the obstacle is employed. Through the experimental results, it is found that the practice time of the user who learns basic operation of the system is sufficiently short. Furthermore, the user feels the sense of security while recognizing the surrounding information through the hand haptic interface.
