ReaWristic: Remote Touch Sensation to Fingers from a Wristband via Visually Augmented Electro-Tactile Feedback

TL;DR

ReaWristic introduces a wristband device that combines electrical nerve stimulation with visual cues to deliver remote tactile sensations to fingers in mixed reality, enabling freehand interaction with realistic haptic feedback.

Contribution

This work presents a novel cross-modal electro-tactile feedback method using a gel-free wristband, achieving localized finger sensations and improved practicality over prior electro-tactile approaches.

Findings

Achieves tactile sensations with 50% localization accuracy in thumb and 40% in index finger.

Outperforms traditional electro-tactile and wrist-based haptic devices in localizability.

Participants prefer ReaWristic over baseline vibrotactile wrist devices.

Abstract

We present a technique for providing remote tactile feedback to the thumb and index finger via a wristband device. This enables haptics for touch and pinch interactions in mixed reality (MR) while keeping the hand entirely free. We achieve this through a novel cross-modal stimulation, which we term visually augmented electro-tactile feedback. This consists of (1) electrically stimulating the nerves that innervate the targeted fingers using our wristband device and (2) concurrently, visually augmenting the targeted finger in MR to steer the perceived sensation to the desired location. In our psychophysics study, we found that our approach provides tactile perception akin to tapping and, even from the wrist, it is capable of delivering the sensation to the targeted fingers with about 50% of sensation occurring in the thumb and about 40% of sensation occurring in the index finger. These results on localizability are unprecedented compared to electro-tactile feedback alone or any prior work for creating sensations in the hand with devices worn on the wrist/arm. Moreover, unlike conventional electro-tactile techniques, our wristband dispenses with gel electrodes. Instead, it incorporates custom-made elastomer-based dry electrodes and a stimulation waveform designed for the electrodes, ensuring the practicality of the device beyond laboratory settings. Lastly, we evaluated the haptic realism of our approach in mixed reality and elicited qualitative feedback from users. Participants preferred our approach to a baseline vibrotactile wrist-worn device.