Haptic Stiffness Perception Using Hand Exoskeletons in Tactile Robotic Telemanipulation

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that operators can perceive remote object stiffness through haptic feedback in telemanipulation, with displacement feedback potentially improving discrimination, advancing tactile robotic teleoperation capabilities.

Contribution

First participant study showing effective stiffness perception via haptic feedback from tactile sensors in real-world telemanipulation using hand exoskeletons.

Findings

Operators can discriminate object stiffness using haptic feedback alone.

Displacement feedback may improve discrimination of similar stiffness objects.

Haptic feedback from tactile sensors is effective in remote stiffness perception.

Abstract

Robotic telemanipulation - the human-guided manipulation of remote objects - plays a pivotal role in several applications, from healthcare to operations in harsh environments. While visual feedback from cameras can provide valuable information to the human operator, haptic feedback is essential for accessing specific object properties that are difficult to be perceived by vision, such as stiffness. For the first time, we present a participant study demonstrating that operators can perceive the stiffness of remote objects during real-world telemanipulation with a dexterous robotic hand, when haptic feedback is generated from tactile sensing fingertips. Participants were tasked with squeezing soft objects by teleoperating a robotic hand, using two methods of haptic feedback: one based solely on the measured contact force, while the second also includes the squeezing displacement between the leader and follower devices. Our results demonstrate that operators are indeed capable of discriminating objects of different stiffness, relying on haptic feedback alone and without any visual feedback. Additionally, our findings suggest that the displacement feedback component may enhance discrimination with objects of similar stiffness.