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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mech. Eng.
Sec. Mechatronics
Volume 10 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmech.2024.1417881

Design of a Haptic Device for Presenting Pressure and Skin Stretching Stimuli to the Palm

Provisionally accepted
Mayuka Kojima Mayuka Kojima 1*Shunsuke Yoshimoto Shunsuke Yoshimoto 2Akio Yamamoto Akio Yamamoto 1
  • 1 The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Japan
  • 2 Osaka University, Suita, Ōsaka, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This paper discusses the design of a two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) pseudo-force presentation device for a palm. The device was designed to present pressure stimulation to a palm to invoke a pseudo-force sensation. In addition, the stimulator can rotate to invoke a pseudo-torque sensation through tangential skin stretch in the proximal/distal direction. Whereas the previous devices used for pseudo-force presentation on a palm utilized voice coil motors (VCM) to generate pressure, the developed device uses a DC gear motor, cam, and lever, which comprise a series elastic actuator (SEA). Although the mechanism's response is slower than the VCM-based device's, it can realize lower power consumption when generating constant force. The paper discusses the design requirement to provide sufficient pseudo-force sensation. Then, a prototype device was evaluated, which satisfied the requirements regarding size, weight, force, and stroke. The device was utilized in a human-subject experiment to investigate the effect of tangential skin stretch along the proximal/distal direction on a palm. The results showed that the stimulation can invoke the feeling of rotation, or pseudo-torque sensation.

    Keywords: Pseudo-haptics, Pseudo-force, pseudo-torque, Normal pressure, skin stretch, Device design, PALM, Series elastic actuators

    Received: 15 Apr 2024; Accepted: 28 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kojima, Yoshimoto and Yamamoto. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Mayuka Kojima, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Japan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.