Reproduction of Displacement with Haptic Feedback in 3D Space

Abstract

This paper studied the ability of human subjects to replicate hand displacements in the contralateral limb. In this task, the subject was asked to use the dominant hand to replicate the direction and distance of displacement felt by the non-dominant hand while a force was applied to the dominant hand. A three-factor within-subject repeated measures design was used. The three factors were force type (no force, small constant force, large constant force, small spring force, and large spring force), direction (right, left, up, down, front, and back), and distance (40 mm, 60 mm, and 70 mm). Each combination of factors was repeated 5 times so that each subject performed a total of 450 trials, in a randomized order. The results confirmed that human subjects are able to replicate the displacements and a better performance could be achieved when a resistance force was applied on the dominant hand. Performance of the task in the right and left directions was poor compared to the other four directions. On average, subjects overestimated the displacement except for movements to the right of body midline. The implications for self-tuning in haptic perception are discussed in the context of surgical simulation and training.