TY - JOUR

T1 - Soft pneumatic fingertip actuator incorporating a dual air chamber to generate multi-mode simultaneous tactile feedback

AU - Hashem, Mohammad Shadman

AU - Joolee, Joolekha Bibi

AU - Hassan, Waseem

AU - Jeon, Seokhee

N1 - Funding Information: Funding: This research was supported by the Preventive Safety Service Technology Development Program funded by the Korean Ministry of Interior and Safety under Grant 2019-MOIS34-001. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

PY - 2022/1

Y1 - 2022/1

N2 - A complete set of diverse haptic feedbacks is essential for a highly realistic and immersive virtual environment. In this sense, a multi-mode haptic interface that simultaneously generates multiple kinds of haptic signals is highly desirable. In this paper, we propose a new silicone-made pneumatically controlled fingertip actuator to render pressure and vibrotactile feedback concurrently to offer a realistic and effective haptic sensation. A new silicone-based stacked dual-layer air chamber was designed. The volume of the chambers is controlled by pneumatic valves with compressed air tanks. The top/upper air chamber renders vibration feedback, whereas the bottom/lower air chamber renders pressure feedback. The proposed silicone-made fingertip actuator is designed so that it can be easily worn at the fingertips. To demonstrate the potential of the system, a virtual environment for rendering three different types of haptic textures was implemented. Extensive performance evaluation and user studies were carried out to demonstrate the proposed actuator’s effectiveness compared to an actuator with single vibrotactile feedback.

AB - A complete set of diverse haptic feedbacks is essential for a highly realistic and immersive virtual environment. In this sense, a multi-mode haptic interface that simultaneously generates multiple kinds of haptic signals is highly desirable. In this paper, we propose a new silicone-made pneumatically controlled fingertip actuator to render pressure and vibrotactile feedback concurrently to offer a realistic and effective haptic sensation. A new silicone-based stacked dual-layer air chamber was designed. The volume of the chambers is controlled by pneumatic valves with compressed air tanks. The top/upper air chamber renders vibration feedback, whereas the bottom/lower air chamber renders pressure feedback. The proposed silicone-made fingertip actuator is designed so that it can be easily worn at the fingertips. To demonstrate the potential of the system, a virtual environment for rendering three different types of haptic textures was implemented. Extensive performance evaluation and user studies were carried out to demonstrate the proposed actuator’s effectiveness compared to an actuator with single vibrotactile feedback.

KW - Haptic rendering

KW - Pneumatic haptic actuator

KW - Simultaneous haptic feedback

KW - Tactile feedback

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121676545&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/app12010175

DO - 10.3390/app12010175

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85121676545

VL - 12

JO - Applied Sciences (Switzerland)

JF - Applied Sciences (Switzerland)

SN - 2076-3417

IS - 1

M1 - 175

ER -