Algorithms for Tactile Rendering in Compliant Environments

Relaying spatially distributed forces promises to enhance the performance of telemanipulation systems. However, the proper way to render tactile information from the sensor to the display is not clear for current displays, where the user applies a constant contact force. We present a simple approach to rendering tactile information to improve performance in a lump localization task in a compliant environment. The algorithms presented subtract uninformative background information from the tactile signal. We observed that subtracting a fixed background pressure frame reduced lump localization error by up to 20% while decreasing the time required to find the lump by up to 44%. Subtracting a background frame that depends on applied force further reduced lump localization error by another 17%.