Direction-Specific Effects of Artificial Skin-Stretch on Stiffness Perception and Grip Force Control

• Published in: IEEE transactions on haptics Vol. 16; no. 4; pp. 836 - 847
• Main Authors: Farajian, Mor, Leib, Raz, Kossowsky, Hanna, Nisky, Ilana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.10.2023; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Artificial skin-stretch; computational model; Force control; Force measurement; Force sensors; Grip force; grip force control; Haptic interfaces; Mechanoreceptors; Particle measurements; Perception; Perceptions; Receptor (biochemistry); Robotic surgery; Skin; Stiffness; stiffness perception
• ISSN: 1939-1412; 2329-4051
• DOI: 10.1109/TOH.2023.3332295

When interacting with an object, we use kinesthetic and tactile information to create our perception of the object's properties and to prevent its slippage using grip force control. We previously showed that applying artificial skin-stretch together with, and in the same direction as, kinesthetic force increases the perceived stiffness. Here, we investigated the effect of the direction of the artificial stretch on stiffness perception and grip force control. We presented participants with kinesthetic force together with negative or positive artificial stretch, in the opposite or the same direction of the natural stretch due to the kinesthetic force, respectively. Our results showed that artificial skin-stretch in both directions augmented the perceived stiffness; however, the augmentation caused by the negative stretch was consistently lower than that caused by the positive stretch. Additionally, we proposed a computational model that predicts the perceptual effects based on the preferred directions of the stimulated mechanoreceptors. When examining the grip force, we found that participants applied higher grip forces during the interactions with positive skin-stretch in comparison to the negative skin-stretch, which is consistent with the perceptual results. These results may be useful in tactile technologies for wearable haptic devices, teleoperation, and robot-assisted surgery.