TACTILE DISPLAY OF VIBRATORY INFORMATION IN TELEOPERATION AND VIRTUALENVIRONMENTS

This paper investigates the use of tactile displays for conveying task -related vibrations in teleoperation and virtual environments. Vibrati on displays can be implemented with inexpensive, open loop devices tha t can be added to many existing systems to improve performance. We des cribe the design of our prototype vibration sensing and display system , and experimentally demonstrate the utility of this type of tactile f eedback. We also delineate the kinds of tasks where high-frequency vib ratory feedback is important. In inspection and exploration tasks the detection of vibrations can be the fundamental goal of the task, while in some manipulation tasks vibrations can enhance performance by redu cing reaction times or permitting minimization of forces. Design guide lines for implementation of vibration displays, based on simple mechan ical models, are also presented.