Design and Psychophysical Evaluation of a Novel Wearable Upper-Arm Tactile Display Device

Sensors (Basel). 2023 May 19;23(10):4909. doi: 10.3390/s23104909.

Abstract

A novel wearable upper arm tactile display device, which can simultaneously provide three types of tactile stimuli (i.e., squeezing, stretching, and vibration) is presented. The squeezing and stretching stimulation of the skin is generated by two motors simultaneously driving the nylon belt in the opposite and the same direction, respectively. In addition, four evenly spaced vibration motors are fixed around the user's arm by an elastic nylon band. There is also a unique structural design for assembling the control module and actuator, powered by two lithium batteries, making it portable and wearable. Psychophysical experiments are conducted to investigate the effect of interference on the perception of squeezing and stretching stimulation by this device. Results show that (1) different tactile stimuli actually interfere with the user's perception compared to the case where only one stimulus is applied to the user; (2) the squeezing has a considerable impact on the stretch just noticeable difference (JND) values when both stimuli are exerted on the user, and when the squeezing is strong, while the impact of stretch on the squeezing JND values is negligible.

Keywords: just noticeable difference; multi-sensory tactile; skin sensory channels; tactile display device.

MeSH terms

  • Electric Power Supplies
  • Lithium
  • Nylons*
  • Skin
  • Wearable Electronic Devices*

Substances

  • Nylons
  • Lithium

Grants and funding

This work was supported in part by the Zhejiang Province Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant LZ23F030010 and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 62073296.